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.

Depressing but necessary unfortunately.

I live in the US (temporarily thank god!) and active shooter drills are common place in my kids’ school - they are primary school age.

As much as it’s commonplace, doesn’t mean it’s any easier to digest. My heart fell out of my arse when my 8 year old DS told me he has his own “special hiding place” under his coat and backpack.
Any items of clothing that light up or make noise - like the flashing trainers we all loved as kids - are banned from school because they give away your location in the event of an active shooter 😔
It makes me feel sick. But at the same time, it’s necessary.
If the government won’t do more to protect our children from lunatics, then they need to know how to keep themselves safe if the situation did arise.

DS’s school definitely doesn’t do lockdown drills.

Just fire drills and practises of what to do if a wild dog gets into the school.

The wild dog one is the lockdown drill

We live in a cruel world. Look at the horrendous Dunblame school shooting in 1996. Absolutely Heartbreaking.

It’s positive that schools now mitigate and take measures. It’s still extremely unlikely to happen and such terror attacks haven’t happened in UK schools since Dunblane thankfully.

I really hope they don't use this particular euphemism at my DCs school. He's already afraid of dogs and the suggestion that they might have a killer dog attack at school would be terrifying.

I know, was being ironic!

DS genuinely didn’t realise what the lockdown drill was really for.

Nicholas Procter planned to murder 34 children and two teachers at his former primary school in Luton last year, after he'd killed his mother, brother and sister. I'd say it's fairly self evident why drills are necessary.

There has been a series of malicious calls to lots of schools the past few weeks near me. Thankfully not my child's school but I know of multiple that have had to go into lockdown because of it.
For several of the primary schools the children seemingly didn't notice it as the teachers were so good at not panicking. Obviously at secondary they are more aware that what they are doing is unusual.

Their lockdown didn't involve cowering under desks, just moving everyone to elsewhere in the school.

Makes a change from the stray dog threat scenario!

Yes that was horrific. Then followed by the man who attacked a nursery with a machete a few months later.

Guidance has been to do it since 2017 so not new new

re Dunblane. I am Australian and my dad was a headteacher in Melbourne. When Dunblane happened- it was such an earthquake level event. Such shock. Such grief. I remember my dad watching the news and shaking and then collapsing to the ground at the sheer horror of it. And we were on the other side of the world. Then only a few weeks later the Port Arthur massacre.

Awful things happen. We can't think we are in this lovely little bubble where it only happens to other people. Southport shows us that surely.

I’d agree depressing but necessary. The sentencing of the young man who killed his family and planned to massacre a class of school kids made me think about how important security is at school.

I work in early years and lockdown practice is now part of our policies,like a fire drill. Tend to practice without the children inside although when they’re outside we practice getting them in quickly
very very sad part of life now…..

My DC never had to do these drills at school. And they went to London schools until recently. I assume the staff were trained.

No, it’s not that their kids “didn’t tell them”. It didn’t happen.

It’s already been widely noted on this thread that many, many schools do not do Lockdown drills whether it’s disguised as be prepared for a wild animal, a swarm of bees or whatever.

My school didn’t. My kids last primary school didn’t. Their current school does.

Dunblane was 1996. Lock down procedures are not new.

No, OP as I said on a pp the first I had heard of lockdown drills on MN I asked my 2 Dcs if they knew what it was. They were like 'Yeah mum. WTF. Of course we know what they are!'. They had NOT told me. It's as much a bread and butter event as the fire drill. And we are in a very rural school. And as I have said we have had 3 occasions IRL to use it in the past 10 years. (angry parents- police chase- man with machete outside the school)

People are making too much of it IMO. Do your children come home and tell you every time they have a fire drill? of course not. Because it's normal.

It’s not really that different to a fire drill. How to act in a dangerous situation…I don’t get the issue.

To my knowledge we’ve never had a drill like this in my kids’ school in south England and I’d be horrified (/complaining) if they did!

What is more likely...

1. An irate parent shouting at the headteacher, and they want the children out of the way.

1. The school burning down during the day.

That's so strange. Why would you complain? It's different from a fire drill where you have to leave the building. If there is a threat you need people to stay put. And they need to know what to do.

It does not benefit anyone to hide yourself from the reality of the modern world.

Our children’s nursery is next door to a migrant hotel with hundreds of residents. They do these drills. With 0-4 year olds.

I think about it all the time. If they were in the garden then they can’t grab them all. Who would they grab. It’s terrifying.

Complaining about a drill that would safeguard your children in an emergency ?

Sorry which stone have you been living under? It has started here.

Look up recent history- Dunblane. Can you be so ignorant?

Never mind what happened with the girls killed at the Dance class.