UK: Is your child's school doing mini lockdowns?

Deputy head, and yes we have a lockdown procedure and the children have practiced it.

With my eldest daughter, they did this when she was at her primary school. My youngest hasn't had it yet, but I'm pretty sure a lot of schools do this from what I've heard.

@Sarah🦄 That is really scary, considering we haven’t really had incidents like those in the USA take place here.. but yeh I guess being prepared for the unknown is better

As a teacher we practised these at least once every term. I worked in Early Years at the time. The children weren't fully aware, just that when we hear this alarm we shut all the blinds/curtains and we are quiet. We called it the quiet alarm. We had to have a real lock down once and because the practises, the children weren't worried and were amazing. We got tables out and made 'dens' in the dark. I'm UK based too x

My son hasn't said anything and we've certainly had nothing about it from school. Scary that this is necessary in the UK 😩

Yes. I’m a teacher and we have to have several different practises to prevent potential issues beyond the normal ‘fire drill’. Eg. We have one for an intruder in the school where we hide under the tables, lock doors and cover windows and another for a threat where we have to get the children further away from the school eg bomb threat. The children understand the likelihood of using any of these drills (fire drill included) is very low but we have to practice them just in case. There was an issue several years ago where teenagers were phoning up their schools with hoax bomb threats in order to close the school down and they schools were under fire for not being adequately prepared to deal with the situation.

This is so scary, but yes, there should be plans for this type of thing.

I work in a school and we do this

I'm a teacher and we do these, have for years. It's just like the fire drill, unlikely to need for real but good to do in case. I think we've needed it once for real, when someone tried to collect a friend's child and became aggressive because they weren't allowed then circled the school trying to find a way in to get the child. Another time it wasn't needed, but an example I give the kids before practice, is when the storms knocked a fence down and a neighbour's dog got into the site - they were removed before gates opened in the morning but they could've easily hidden and us not know until after the kids were in and we don't know the temperament of the dog so a lock down would keep everyone safe. We usually read them a story very quietly until it's over.

Yes my son had some in primary after a stranger somehow got into school. And he’s just gone into secondary and they had a drill two weeks ago and they had to barricade themselves in the classroom

Yep, we just got an email about it today.

I asked my son and he said no they've never done it

Never heard of this over here, wow.

It's becoming normal in most schools in the UK. When I was doing my teacher training in 2022, I never done it in the first school (February-June), but when I started my placement in the second school (September-december) we did it there

I’m a teacher in the UK too, stopped working 3 years ago whilst I was pregnant, never came across lockdown drills, might be a more recent thing

@Famz yeah I was never aware of it either, I'm in the north east uk, but my little cousins attend school in london and have also had a lock down drill last year

Yes my kids do like 2xs a year. We also did them in the 90s at my elementary school that was small town in the middle of nowhere. I think it's pretty standard. Several times we had a cougar come on our elementary property and they use the alarm for that. It's important to do for many reasons. Also police were a good 20 minutes away, so it's good to have a plan for kids if someone random walked in the school as it wasn't gated and in the middle of nowhere.

@Famz yes, I just put myself in my daughters shoes & it must be a scary thing for them. Granted my daughter come home all smiles today. Although she has wanted to have lots of hugs but, has not said anything about the lockdown.

Thank you for all of the responses. Those of you who are teachers/worked in schools, is this a common practise? Or, is this a more recent thing? My husband has not worked in a school for about 6 years & that had never been something that they did. He's been working in a college for the past 6 years & this is something that is just new to the college where he works as well.

That’s off putting. I’m so sorry to those of you who have children enduring this

My daughter had a lockdown drill at nursery, they told the kids it was one big game of hide and seek. She’s now been at school for 4 weeks and no mention of it yet.

Secondary teacher here and been doing them for years, it was even a thing when I was school. As others have said it’s a way of signalling students need to stay inside for safety, very rarely are they in serious danger. We’ve had a nearby house fire before so everyone needed to stay inside with windows shut, quickest and easiest way to manage that is a lockdown.

@Leah I've never experienced one of these personally. I do have vague memories of being at school & having the fire drills. Otherwise, I've never went into lockdown. Also, my husband used to work in secondary schools & he has never worked in a school that has participated in this.

I'm a primary school teacher in the UK and I've done them in my old school (8 ish years ago) and now in my current school we've done them a few times. Think they're pretty standard now.

We do these where I work. I think all schools are required to have one

@🇵🇸catalyst🗼🧙🏻‍♀️🌕🌘🔮🇵🇸 these drills happen in the US too. We’re the ones with the most notable problem..I’m actually surprised the UK is doing it. But I guess can’t be too safe.

@MJ_xo yeah I’m aware WE do it becuase we have such a problem w school shootings but it’s so off putting as a parent. My kids went through them while they were in public school.. we homeschool now though

@🇵🇸catalyst🗼🧙🏻‍♀️🌕🌘🔮🇵🇸 yeah it’s horrible. I can’t imagine what they must think and feel. And I wonder if it desensitizes them at some point 😞 glad your children don’t have to deal with that anymore.

I think it depends on where in the UK you are based. I have been teaching 17 years now, but around the same area. I have definitely practised these for the last 10 years, we didn't always let parents know though. They were just told at the beginning that the children could practise these drills. In a certain area of the UK, we did them a lot more frequently because of the potential threats. The children honestly didn't get distressed because the adults remain calm. We normally read a story and it's a very quick exercise.

In the school I worked in, in Wales we practiced lockdowns! Its not likely they’ll need it (hope to god never do) but its good practice

@Sarah🦄 i haven't worked in nurseries for 6 or so years but we used to do them when I did.