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.

The POINT is that we shouldn't need to do these things!

But you know that 😏

We shouldn't have to lock our front doors, but we do.

I grew up not far from an army base with nuclear weapons. We did semi regular drills in case of attack.

We also had regular bomb drills at high school - not in a city - and every few months we'd all traipse to the sports hall because of a bomb hoax.

This was the 1980's.

I've once been in a classroom while there was an actual fire emergency. This was well over 25 years ago.

It happened only 10 minutes before lunch hour. We'd had a few false alarms and I think that most people assumed that it was another one, but we followed protocol. Just as well.

The fire wasn't in the building - it was under, in an archway where paper skips were kept. (It was later thought that someone must have chucked a cigarette end into one of the skips.) When I opened my door to get the children out the adjacent concourse area was full of smoke. (The archway was directly under the concourse. I did supply in the same school some years later and the skips were no longer kept in that area.)

The practice drills were invaluable. Pupils followed instructions to turn left and go straight down the stairs and outside, into the lining up area. In my opinion, it did help to stop panic.

The worst of it was having to stand around outside in the cold until we got the all clear from the fire brigade. One unfortunate class had been in the swimming pool and the kids were standing around in their swimsuits.

It is sad it needs to happen but I hope it is reassuring to you that the schools are taking precautions and that the children will know what do it if they need to.

As a nursery teacher in a private setting, we also do intruder drills if someone gets into the building and lockdown drills if there is anything happening outside.

I have found these to be really important. We had a fight right outside the nursery’s window (coming onto our drive) with weapons being used and we were able to quickly
manage the situation because the children were already familiar with the routine.

My children are in high school but have done it all the way through primary "incase a dangerous dog" made its way into school. Be prepared is probably best.

20 years ago we had fire drills and emergency evacuation drills (this was in Spain, where no violence in school had ever happened before)
Now I’m in Uk, my DS still in nursery but he knows what to do in a event of a fire.
As modern days change and sadly threats at school can happen, as sad as it is, I would not be again them learning how to protect themselves.
Terribly sad, wicked and sickening…but I want my child back home everyday

We live in a very sad society where people are doing dreadful things & unfortunately as with everything we are following in the footsteps of America with everything & children being harmed in schools is a sad fact our country now has to face but instead of finding it sad I’d be grateful the school are being pro-active in teaching the children how to behave; respond & do the best to stay safe x

Upsetting, yes but I'm a teacher and have a drill lockdown twice a year and it is extremely important that the students and staff know what to do if it was ever needed.

The French school I worked in before covid did an invasion/ lockdown drill every term as was the fire the drill. The former the children hid in the classroom in silence under the tables and the latter evacuate the school in a fast orderly manner.

https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/24953372.knox-academy-lockdown-teen-arrested-following-alleged-bb-gun-incident/

A family member was caught up in this incident last month . The staff and pupils had previously been told what the signal would be for lockdown and when they heard the signal they locked the door and put the lights out as they had been instructed to do. They initially thought it was a drill but as time went on they began to wonder whether it was actually a real thing.

Agree with this - would you rather they just didn't make them aware of possible unspeakable things that may (hopefully not) happen? (Very sad to acknowledge, but probably necessary and great 'foreword thinking' in this often awful day and age). Just to have that awareness may save their life. Of course, we all truly hope it will not ever have to actually be put into practice in their real lives. xx

I had to do a lockdown practice when teaching early years, that was about 8 years ago. It's not the easiest thing to explain to children that young and it's very sad we even have to do it.

The issue with intruders or events that spill off the street onto school property has been around a long time; it's one of the reasons why all schools have high fences around them now - and that started in the mid to late 90's!

DD and DS never had to do this, on the other hand they did have to learn to hide under tables as part of the earthquake drill.

I think a better place to start would be to improve the general behaviour in schools. So many children are used to running riot and disrespecting teachers, it makes me wonder how effective are these measures would be when needed. Children should be expected to always listen to the teacher, follow instruction with immediate effect, know how to walk in single file, sit in silence etc. If they are used to doing these things then an emergency situation will be easier to manage.

All true @Amberlynnswashcloth . But practicing cements muscle memory and makes things automatic, IMO.

It's a shame we even have to think of such things nowadays.

It’s fascinating that almost everyone on this thread believes we “have” to do these things “nowadays” because there is a serious threat to children in schools.
This is one of the reason that these drills are not harmless/ neutral activities imv- because they reinforce these beliefs/ exaggerated perceptions of serious threats. It’s fear mongering, it’s totally disproportionate and it’s not rational. This is not healthy in any society.

It’s sad that we have to teach our children lots of things, from knife crime, internet predators etc but best to prepare them that life isn’t all a bed of roses in an age appropriate way.

Ok. So we shouldn't drill for fires? When the last time a school had a fire??

Let's imagine , there was an aggressive dog on school grounds, it had got in and was in the playground. Or a horse. It...a cow. It happens. And is potentially dangerous.

You'd be fine with the school having no procedures in place to get the kids inside and safe? You'd be thinking "well there's nothing the school could have or should have done to prevent this? They definitely didn't need to drill for a invacuation"???

It's not just about a madman with a knife.

Yep- no fire drills then. They hardly ever happen so why scare the kids by practicing?. No teaching swimming students how to float on their back and raise a hand for the RNLI or lifeguards. How often do people drown after all?

It is of no benefit to anyone to put your head in the sand and pretend that life means skipping through a field of flowers every day.

This precisely!

You seem to think that these lockdown drills are superfluous because they are never used.

They are used, more than you'd think.

@Tandora do you think schools shouldn’t have any safeguarding measures like lockable gates, intercom system to get into office, no adults without relevant DBS to be able to walk round school on their own, no DBS checks etc.

It is not only children’s behaviour that has ramped up over the last few years so has parents behaviour. The angry parent on site is a reason to have procedures in place to maintain child safety, invacuation is one of those procedures. Knife crime is on the increase. If there was an altercation outside the school or nearby then again invacuation might be a good idea.

A dysregulating child in the playground might result in an invacuation, wouldn’t involve hiding under desks but just removing other children from the area (in same way children leave a classroom if another child is dysregulating). Getting more common as many children’s needs can’t be met in mainstream school but no places in special schools.

Indeed. As i said upthread my children's' small, rural independent of only 600 children in one of the safest places in the UK statistically has used it 3 times in the past 10 years.

And yet look at the proportion of pp’s on this thread who say their schools have never had one, and yet they seem to have escaped schools unscathed…🤔

I think part of the issue here is we are somewhat talking past each other. People seem to be using “lockdown drills” as a very broad umbrella term- sometimes referring to practical, harmless practices and sometimes referring to potentially alarming and completely irrational practices.

Obviously im not against children practicing listening to the teacher’s instructions and lining up/ filing in and out of the classroom in a quick and orderly manner (including in the context of fire drills). if thats what people are calling “lockdown” and saying is fine and necessary of course I have no objection- and I don’t think these are scary for children.

As I have repeatedly said the issue I have is with the lockdown drills that involve children hiding under desks to escape from a murderous intruder. These are starting to take place in schools and its just irrational, generates fear and completely unnecessary .