To think it's very depressing that school children need to learn this

[Eastie77Returns]

DD's school is producing a video showing children what to do in the event there is an intruder in the school and they need to go into 'lockdown'. I found out as she has been asked to take part in the video production.She is in Y7.

DS is in Y4 and he told me they did a practice drill at his primary school where they followed the steps they needed to take in a similar situation.

Honestly it makes me feel very sad. I understand in the current climate it's necessary and in countries like the US it's standard but I never thought I'd see something like this here.

There are usually different levels of lockdown drills. An important part is for pupils to recognise the invacuation alarm so they can distinguish it from fire alarm so they know to go inside rather than outside.

If an angry parent comes onto playground and alarm goes off children know to go inside immediately not dawdling or rushing back to pick up their jumper etc. They don’t always have to sit under tables.

Children take them in their stride like fire drills. If they are going to get traumatised by them it is probably down to their parents making a big thing about them

A couple of local schools have invoked lockdowns when a child has dysregulated and is damaging property, so again it is good to get children to leave the area

Sorry, I don't read every thread on MN. And I asked quite early in this thread.

The problem is that people think this is only for the absolute worse case scenario, but there are any number of lockdowns that can happen for all manner of lesser reasons that won’t make the news. We had one in the 80s, a drunk, violent parent who came to settle a score with a teacher. I still remember him running through the school shouting and swearing, with all the children locked in the sports hall singing to drown out the noise.

do children need to practice routinely hiding under their desks in case once in a lifetime a drunk man comes running through the school corridors?

I did some voluntary work at a school and there was a lockdown drill one day. Nobody had told me and it was one of the most disturbing experiences of my life. The children were amazing. I was trying to hide being a gibbering wreck because it was a sobering reminder of how necessary this is in today’s society. Yes it’s sad but I’d rather kids had a chance in a situation like that.

My kids had drills 20 years ago, not new and alas needed everywhere. When we lived in the USA we had earthquake drills as well, kids loved them because you get to hide under the table holding onto the legs

So there was an absolutely devastating school shooting in Scotland in 1996, and then two decades later a lad in Luton was arrested having plotted to carry out a school shooting, although he never actually got anywhere near a school, and abandoned his gun and was arrested before it happened.
Do I think this rationally implies my 3 year old needs to practice hiding under her desk at preschool? No.

@Tandora angry parent probably statistically more likely than a fire. Most fire evacuations probably happen due to children setting off alarms.

I have had dealings with a number of schools. Of them one had a fire in one of the buildings where no children were at the time but school evacuated. Don’t know of any other fires in the schools. But know of at least 3 lockdown incidents, one involving angry parent.

And children don’t always hide under desks. Invacuations can just be a way of getting children inside quickly and calmly but with no dawdling. The dog in the playground is an example given for younger children when carrying out a drill. But let’s face it if an XL Bully was on the prowl you wouldn’t want children in the playground

Schools have used lockdowns for bee swarms, chemical spills in local area when people are advised to stay indoors with windows shut. In these cases lessons will carry on, no need to hide under desks but there will obviously be no outdoor play or PE

Where there is an incident at one school, like a stabbing, it is likely that other local schools will go into lockdown as a precautionary measure. Or if something is kicking off in the local area

Invacuations can just be a way of getting children inside quickly and calmly but with no dawdling.

Ok fair enough- I’m not at all against practicing this type of thing and can see how it would be useful for relatively minor- albeit potentially chaotic - incidents like dealing with an angry parent on the lose.
I was objecting to the ones where they practice hiding under their desks because of a murderous intruder.

By the way, if people on this thread are worried about stabbings and want to take measures to reduce the threat/ safeguard children- an evidence based campaign is working on banning sharp pointed kitchen knives. Get a rounded one! They are perfectly practical for cooking and vastly safer. If everyone did this it would significantly reduce rates of homicide in this country x

I do know of a school that burnt down during the school day. Oddly, the putting the chair and walking calmly to the exit wasn't use, they were practically throwing the kids out the doors as the roof was in danger of caving in. Over 20 years ago though.

Doesn't mean fire drill and lickdown drills aren't vital. They need to know what to do, just in case.

At primary school it was just like a fun game with the caretaker dressed as a lion!

One thing that people forget is that in a lockdown situation ,not every teacher in every class will not automatically be aware of why the school is locked down. In some cases it will simply be a warning code from an alarm system. Its better to go straight to worse case scenario protocol (under desks etc) until facts are established.

I just checked with DC (7 and 9). They've done fire drills where they line up in the playground. I asked if they've ever done another kind where they maybe hide under their desks or in the classroom and they looked completely blank and asked why they'd need to do that. So definitely not being done here at the moment.

@DappledThings they don’t always hide under desks etc, they just learn the sound of the invacuation alarm means go inside, usually into your classroom. They need to be able to distinguish it from fire alarm and end of lesson/break bell.

Maybe. But they were adamant they had only practised going outside for the fire bell, nothing that meant staying or going inside at all.

I accept it's widespread, but it clearly isn't done in 100% of schools as plenty of posters have said.

In the case of Dunblane, I’m not sure how effective a lockdown drills would have been. The grotesque individual who murdered those children (cannot write his name) caught them and their teacher unawares in an assembly hall, there was nowhere for them to hide:( I believe children who were in the classrooms instinctively hid under desks. Andy Murray was one of those children. I often wondered if people who complained about his ‘serious, grumpy’ demeanour ever thought about what that young man went through as a child. He said he has suffered anxiety throughout his life as a result.

In the Sandy Hook massacre, the children who were murdered would have been through drills countless times but to little avail. There is unfortunately sometimes little you can do in the face of a psychotic, evil person who is determined to do harm.

My husband is in his 60s and clearly remembers these drills at primary school in preparation for a nuclear war. He says he spent years of his childhood in fear of the 'the bomb' being dropped.

Many schools have tighter security, so harder for an intruder to get in. But schools can never totally prevent someone getting in unless they are built like prisons. All these measures are there to try and reduce the possibility of a serious incident happening or the severity of it, can never totally prevent it.

In case of Dunblane the children who survived in that class were mainly the ones who hid in the store cupboard.

He lived less than a mile away and had planned to do it that morning. If his mum hadn’t woken up and challenged him he would have at least got to the school. I don’t like it either but my son’s primary school have said they will do it in an age appropriate way. In secondary they obviously know all about this stuff and sometimes ask me what I would do. When they ask I can tell them our lockdown procedure but we haven’t practised it since 2019.

Lockdown drills in the U.K. aren’t aimed at school shootings. US drills are, and are very different to U.K. ones.

Of course specific incidents like the ones you mention in your posts are rare. But where's the downside of getting to kids to practise a safety drill every now and then, provided the teacher doesn't scare the crap out of the kids in the process? I don't see a problem in being pragmatic about these things, personally...

My DC's primary school was already gated by the end of the 1980's and most of the gates were locked. I don't think that the main gate was locked but it was directly outside the main office window. By the time my youngest child left in 1995 the gates were all locked at all times.
At my GC's primary schools they have regular drills for intruders (as well as fires) and do everything they can to avoid scaring the children. They had one at going home time earlier this term and the internal and external door to the classrooms were immediately locked, with classes being taken individually to the halls until they were given the all clear to move.
There are quite a few children from refugee families at the school who may well have been involved in real emergencies in their original countries but all the children behaved really well as hopefully they would if they had an unexpected emergency.

My parents in Australia also recall the nuclear bomb drills.