Have you got weapons in your classroom in case of an assailant?

[noblegiraffe]

I just read this thread on twitter asking if teachers have considered what to use as a weapon in their classroom in case of an attack. Teacher after teacher saying they have baseball bats, heavy objects, things to break windows with, throw at a shooter. Teachers planning which cupboards to hide children in, trained to create barricades.

twitter.com/pernilleripp/status/963947498036449280

It’s just heartbreaking. I suppose I’ve idly thought ‘I’d lock the door and get the kids to hide in the far corner’ but this is something that those teachers have to seriously be prepared for. There have been 8 school shootings so far in the US in 2018 and we’re only halfway through February.

Reading that thread and feeling the fear I can see this heading towards the call for teachers to be armed and some teachers wanting that.

Those poor children. Their poor teachers. And how these events affect all teachers and children over there.

No, I don’t have a weapon.
I do have an old fashioned stock cupboard, and teach a small (SEN) class. I have considered how we would hide.
Following all the bomb hoax shenanigans 2 yrs ago we now have a different way of sounding the fire alarm which means evacuate the site - to a pre arranged place.
It terrifies and saddens me in equal proportions.
I never want a weapon of any kind in my class.

no and hope that I never feel the need to

Yes, I have thought about it. But I was a forces child who lived in an environment that was very IRA aware in the 70s and 80s, and we thought about shootings and bombs a lot. So thinking about barricades, minimising victim count and escape points is part of the way I will always see the world now.
Yes, most schools in my area have an emergency lockdown plan and a different alarm for it.

As a fairly inexperienced teacher I was left in charge of the site when a caller told us there was a bomb on site, we were targeted as a faith school.

It was awful to have the sudden responsibility of evacuation but no plan. We had to run around trying to calmly tell adults to get off the site and to another building. Luckily we were tiny, the road was sealed off and a staff member had to check the site with the police.

Since then it was always at the back of my mind, no weapons but a clear plan of out of windows/ fire exit and over a low fence to back gardens.

Blimey - I've never even thought of this!

I did once work in a school where a colleague was threatened by a pupil with a knife (colleague was a big bloke and managed to disarm them).

Pupils were then most indignant when asking me 'what if someone pulled a knife on you, miss?' that I said 'I'd hit you with a chair'. They could not get their head around the fact that I felt I would have the right to defend myself against attack...

most schools in my area have an emergency lockdown plan

Do you actually do lockdown practice like you would do a fire drill? Is this common in the UK then?!

We are secondary and have lots of side rooms and two doors to most classrooms so places to hide and escape routes. So far only isusse has been a couple of students with knifes (seperarate occasions) both times we locked kids in classrooms and called the police.

We have a Lock down policy and drills. Its a different sound to the fire alarm. We also have had training during an inset by the police on what to do in the event of a lone shooter. (Terrorist threat rather than a disgruntled pupil)

No we’re in the UK.

I work in a pre-school based on a primary school site and in line with the school and we have a lockdown policy that is practised as often as the fire drill (every half term).

I have never thought about weapons but I do worry that if it happened for real Early Years would be most vulnerable as we aren't allowed our phones with us.

We have a lockdown procedure that all the students know and have practised. I never want to have to use it.

Our L.A. have recommended all schools and nurseries have a lock down policy and procedure just in case.

We've done a lockdown practice once. It was prompted more by concerns about someone looking for a specific kid than anything else though I suppose terrorism is worst case scenario.

Lights off. Phones off. Lock the door and push desks and filing cabinets against it.

Just hope I never have to use it.

I'm at a secondary school in England. We have a lockdown plan, and have drills about once a year.
Don't you? (Not sure if you're in England or Scotland, but I thought you were south of the border)
We're in a major conurbation. I'm guessing if it's a rural school, you're not to likely to have random nutters walking in off the street.

I've seen something, maybe from Tumblr or the like saying that using a fire extinguisher would be a good way of teachers being armed without being armed. We've had bomb and shooter policies at both schools I've worked at. Shooter policy at my last school was pretty much everyone scatter and get off site as quickly as possible. At my new school it's a lockdown procedure. We haven't practised though.

There's no weapons though. Run, hide, tell.
I thought all schools had to do this?

Noble - ds’s school practised their “invacuation” procedure last October. Parents were sent an email about it.

We’ve actually had a couple of local schools go into lockdown for real due to people outside behaving in a threatening manner towards the school.

No weapons here and I sincerely hope we never need them.

We did have a lock down once though. An ex pupil had just held up a garage at gun point and was seen heading in the direction of the school. There was an urgent message sent to all teachers to lock all external doors and keep the kids in the classroom, break was cancelled. We pretty much just kept teaching, as nobody told us what it was about till he'd been apprehended by the police (a couple of miles away from school). Break was reinstated before we'd even told the kids it was cancelled. It was a huge non-event, but it could have been awful if he'd come straight for us rather than committing a crime first.

I teach in a UK school and we have lockdown drills.

I’m in the SE, and in the last year I’ve been in two schools whilst the emergency lockdown drill was practised. Treated like a fire drill, calm and ordered. Blinds down, windows and doors closed, children under tables and door blocked. Wait for the all clear. I thought it was a recent policy requirement?
I’ve been involved in a school evacuation due to an armed criminal hiding from police on the premises, and twice in an impromptu lockdown because of riots outside. Both in the NW.
Thinking about possible dangers to your children and what you’d do in a threat scenario makes sense to me.

Check out ‘ school lockdown policies’ and the name of your LEA. See what the advice is.

As far as I know all schools in this area have a lock down and evacuation plan.

We've practiced lock down, telling the DC we need to know what to do if a stray dog got into the grounds.

The only weapon I have is a pair of sharp scissors. PE teachers probably have rounders bats...neither will be at all useful if an attacker entered the building, I would imagine.

Yes lockdown practice normal here (south England). Similar to fire drills except you lock the door and shut the blinds and have to wait for the all clear to sound.

DD's secondary has a lock down procedure. I think it was set up after some terrorist incidents and some bomb threats made to schools. They have a different alarm and it involves remaining in classrooms, in lockdown.

My primary school doesn't have one. Few of our classrooms are not lockable and most rooms would not have cupboards or store rooms to hide in either. We do have a Major Incident procedure - that involves evacuate the site and making our way to a prearranged location off site. That is more for the case of a major fire or a threat made to school. It has been in place for years - but we don't practise it - it would be a nightmare to do I would think. But it would start in the same manner as a fire drill.

In Australia, my university felt it was important to teach us how to respond in an active shooter situation because on other campuses, they had had trouble getting students to find cover and keep running - we are really good at assembling for fire drills in wide open spaces apparently.

This video is quite good, but in Aus we focus on 'run, hide, tell' rather than fight. Good advice for classroom scenarios tho: