Dance School - safety concern

[GoblinFish]

My daughter attends dance classes several times during the week and for the last few weeks I have sat and waited for the classes to finish each week instead of going away and coming back. I have noticed that they mostly leave the doors open to the classes (I guess it gets hot in the halls) so anyone could walk in from the car park directly into the dance class without having to go through any main doors/locked doors. I feel a bit concerned about it after the horrific Stockport attack and since reading a the weekend two people were arrested for trying to do copycat it. Would you speak with the dance school and voice concerns or would you leave it? To be fair not even the main doors are locked into the buildings either at either venues.

This kind of thing just simply doesn’t occur to me to worry about. I guess I’m lucky to have no negative experiences to colour my thinking.
None of the doors are locked anyway is it really making any difference?

No probably not, I suppose I think the doors should also be locked into the building once all the children are in. Perhaps I should worry less! Thank you for your perspective.

My child also dances and after what happened in Stockport the teacher paid for the venue to install a lock with key code on the door. In fact most things she does the organisers ensure doors are locked once all kids are in.

Have you posted about this before?

No I haven’t posted about it before, someone else must have.

Sounds very sensible and responsible!

Hi, I would have thought that the horrific Southport attack was an event so rare that it wouldn't make sense to worry it could happen again.

That is until, like you, I read this week that copycat attacks were being planned - with some guy even having bought weapons. Thankfully intercepted by the police. But it gave me a shock.

So yes, if it's a simple fix like locking a door why not ask that the teacher takes that precaution.

Same.

Probably more likely to need to escape the building in an emergency. so I don't think I'd want them locked in. No different to free access to children's sports pitches, parks, churches etc is it?

Do the dance school own the venue? Or do they lease the space from someone else? That will impact what they are able to do.

Ideally, for safeguarding reasons any external doors to the venue should be secured or monitored.

Locking the children in can pose a greater danger if there is a fire, however - any system put in place would need to consider the ease of getting out as well as the ease of people getting in.

I would mention your concerns but do be aware due to fire regs and/or legalities of who owns the building, they may not be able to do anything about it.

After the Stockport attacks my daughters dance class locks the door.

Our dance school has a coded door on the outside. You have to be buzzed in. Of course someone could just come through with a group but it makes it slightly safer I suppose.

Same

Sounds like security theatre.

It will deter opportunist.

If someone actually wants to get in and cause harm, a cheapo code lock on a door won't stop them.

My dd dances and the door is locked once they’re all in and only opened when they leave, it’s a thumb turn so quick to get out in case of a fire. I would ask if this is something they could do? No harm in asking. There are some very young children at my dd’s dance school and they could easily wander out the wrong door whilst coming back from the toilet so it keep everyone safe

4-5 years ago it was good practice to maximise the ventilation in this way and encouraged on risk assessments.

We've had a parent with exactly this complaint. We're a group that does outdoor activities in public spaces as a regular part of our programme. Our risk assessments are within the national framework and passed within the organisation's hierachy. We suggested that if the parent was not happy with our risk assessment, then maybe we weren't the appropriate organisation for their child.

As leaders, our concern was that if we changed our practices to accommodate this parent's anxiety on this issue, how far would we have to go to appease other anxieties that may emerge in the future.

Some crimes are shocking because they are so very, very rare. Part of a risk assessment is considering the risk vs the benefit. This specific risk is very minimal in liklihood. The benefits of fresh air are good air quality, temperature regulation and health (against infectious illness). Logically if it's too dangerous to have the doors open, it's also dangerous for us to use the community facilities outside or activities like walks. We lock the other doors to our venue because they're not in direct view for constant supervision.

Perspective is important and excessive parental anxiety can be damaging to children's development. In our case, the parents in question didn't let their children do off-site activities which will long term be detrimental to their skills development and physical development.

They decided that they didn't like our risk assessment and withdrew the child.

Why is everyone saying Stockport? Do you mean Southport?

It was Southport not Stockport

YANBU at all, I wouldn't like that.

It was Southport, not Stockport. But my kids dance school also installed a key code lock on their external door shortly after the attack.

Personally I'd be keen on the fresh air and not particularly worried in this situation, but I do find it exasperating when anyone who draws the line in a slightly different place for a particular precaution is painted as having 'anxiety' (that must not be given into because otherwise it's some kind of slippery slope and Where Would It Stop).

Surely it's OK just to disagree about how worthwhile a precaution is and for you (as you're in charge) to have the final word, without painting even asking for it as irrational, and disparaging the person who asked?

Yes terrible things do happen but they are thankfully very rare. Sadly if people (let's face it it's usually men) want to hurt other people they will usually find a way no matter what precautions we try to put in place.

I'm not saying do nothing but there is a balance to be struck.

At our dance school someone always takes the little ones to the toilet, but it's a good idea in case one wanders off.

Stockport and Southport are completely different places

It is an anxious stance and not well grounded in the liklihood of real world risks and benefits. A major purpose of our organisation is to do adventurous activities. The parent's stance was illogical compared to the risks of other activities we do such as crossing roads on walks, using hot/ sharp kitchen equipment or using the public space around our venue for outdoor play and activities.

Everything we do is justified by a proportionate benefit and mitigations such as adult: child ratio and in line with organisation requirements.

We've previously had a couple of parents make spurious complaints over non-issues that have wasted our time and of the other volunteers in the organisation who have investigated that we have followed the practices of our organisation appropriately. We're volunteers with our own busy family/ working lives, and we're tired of the stress that a very small number of our parents have created over the years, and our experience has been that they do repeatedly complain and escalate.

It was disproportionate to ask us to never have the doors open (if it wasn't "safe" that night then it would never be "safe enough"), and we asked them if they had confidence in our ability to keep their child safe and if we were an appropriate activity for their child if they didn't trust our risk assessment.

If HQ thought that having doors open for fresh air was a significant risk, then the risk assessment guidence for the organisation would be updated accordingly at which point we would either decide to abide by it or conclude that there is no suitable venue in our community and shut down.