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Asking my 6 year old lad this evening how his first day was back at school after half term.
Apparently Connor banged his head on the door and David managed to loose one of his school shoes at dinner.
He also told me about the special 'fire alarm' they practised for today. If it goes off, everyone has to curl up in a ball on the floor and stay as silent and still as possible (he has no chance).
He's usually in bed by now, but he's sat here after extra supper colouring in and cutting out shapes to hand out to his class mates tomorrow.
I feel like keeping him and his sisters off school tomorrow and going out flying kites and building dens and stuff.
Typical in education. Overreaction to something that won't happen.
A special "fire alarm", now what do they do for a fire alarm? Hunker down or leave the building?
Who will know the difference?
He also told me about the special 'fire alarm' they practised for today. If it goes off, everyone has to curl up in a ball on the floor and stay as silent and still as possible
I might try that with my year 10's tomorrow!
Our kids school do have a lock down alarm. Similar to what you OP says.
The kids think it is incase a lion escapes from the zoo. No harm done, they think it's quite fun.
Shame the school and we have to consider these things though isn't it.
I am glad the school have a plan though.
Overreaction to what exactly?
Could be worse, at least the class weren't painting Eiffel Towers in national flag colours.
Deniers gonna deny, which is equally sad and frankly pathetic.
He also told me about the special 'fire alarm' they practised for today. If it goes off, everyone has to curl up in a ball on the floor and stay as silent and still as possible (he has no chance).
I always thought it involved bending sharply from the waist, putting your head between your legs and kissing your ass goodbye...
Actually, when I was at school, fire alarms involved everybody filing outside in an orderly fashion, and each class having a headcount.
Curling up in a ball on the floor?
Jeesus! #rollseyes
My wife is a headteacher, they have a plan for both a bomb on the premises (evacuation) and a lock down (containment).
After Dunblane why wouldn't you?
My little one did this today. I think it's great the school are taking their safety seriously. Agreed extra hugs are the order of the day
So your school was proactive in protecting your child's safety in a way which didn't upset them or scare them and you have a problem [b]why[/b]?
Get over yourself and ring the school and thank them for looking after your kid so well.
Luxembourg has nuclear warnings still due to the ageing power station over the border in France. Scared the shit out of me the first couple of times I heard it.
So your school was proactive in protecting your child's safety in a way which didn't upset them or scare them and you have a problem why?
Not sure he's suggesting there's a problem.
I went to school in the nearest primary to Broadmoor. It wasn't only fire alarms we practised!
My old school had an armoury where the pongoe cadets stashed all the weapons (nowt major - L98s, .303s, couple of Bren guns, .22s and the like) so that the more superior space cadets could use them for tinker toys.
One day a contractor set off the alarms - quite a lot of police arrived quite quickly. It wasn't even mentioned again. Seemed more worried about drunks and druggies wandering onsite "please direct them to the school office".
Typical in education. Overreaction to something that won't happen.
You might want to run that past Andy Murray.
So your school was proactive in protecting your child's safety in a way which didn't upset them or scare them and you have a problem why?Get over yourself and ring the school and thank them for looking after your kid so well.
You might like to have another go at appreciating the sentiment of the OP's post. Clue - they were not complaining.
We practice various 'fire drills'. If a siren sounds (Not the fire alarm) staff must check their emails for further instructions such as - sweep room for suspicious package, if a package is found they then sound the fire alarm for evacuation.
My 9 year old daughter went on a school trip to London zoo today. A few no shows but what I found sad was that 3 boys were on the coach and their Mums got on and took them off at the last minute. I can understand why but still....if you aren't going to let them go don't let them think they're going in the first place, don't humiliate them in front of their friends and don't give all the kids more reason to worry!
Suppose I'm looking at it from a slightly jaded inside view.
In my experience heads suddenly jump to action having not always thought it through or discussed actions with staff and parents so they know how to talk through what's happening with the pupils. Some pupils return home with a "this happened in school today" and parents overreact because they're not forewarned and therefore don't have the words to explain why.
Over reaction was strong I should have gone with a not necessarily thought through strategy. And given how slowly ed authority work s I'd be surprised if they'd approved it.
Our local sixth form has a similar drill.
The students had to practice it to make sure they all understood the procedure.
It was to sit under a desk till they got called out. They were under the desks 30 mins. Playing candy crush 😀
I'm not saying it's not important., glad they take things serious.
We had to stand in the middle of the classroom, not talking and looking ahead and slightly upward. It was called lift practise.
everyone has to curl up in a ball on the floor and stay as silent and still as possible
That sounds more like a 4 minute warning drill.
I went to school in the nearest primary to Broadmoor. It wasn't only fire alarms we practised!
Yes, we could hear the "practice" sirens too
Occasionally we'd get a note sent around with the afternoon register saying that somebody had escaped, and that people should walk home in pairs, not alone 😯
I have no issue with my kids learning this, in fact I welcome it.
From what you say, it sounds like it was done very well.
Typical in education. Overreaction to something that won't happen.
I went though my entire education and there was never a fire in the school, so I agree, complete waste of time doing all those fire drills 🙄
I'd be happier with schools giving the world young adults with an appreciation of the world rather than sheltered and insulated children at the end of it. This is part of knowing what to do if something happens, understanding a bit about the world and being able to keep safe.
Like the Broardmoor example plenty of kids will have been through the drills/warnings from living near chemical plants etc. for most people it's all quite normal.
I don't recall ever rehearsing lockdown at school when I was there 20 years ago, but our school of nearly 2000 pupils was evacuated more than once due to bomb threats that were perceived credible after the last Manchester bombing.
Some terrorists are also muslims
Some terrorists are also catholics
All terrorists are ****s
enfht - MemberDeniers gonna deny,
Too sheer or not sheer enough?[img]
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I might try that with my year 10's tomorrow!
For at least an hour, I'd suggest.
There was talk a couple of years ago of us (large sixth form college) having 'invacuation' procedures, but nothing ever happened.
Now that terrorists know that random vehicle/knife attacks in London lead to getting shot in the head within eight minutes, I'd think that attacks on less well protected areas will be more likely.
Broadmoor alarm is still tested every Monday. I'm normally miles away at work so it's always a slight surprise if I'm at home on a Monday and it goes off.
The last place I worked had various alarms, one for leaving the building, another for staying inside and closing all the windows, or if you're outdoors, immediately going into the closest building.
My daughters' school had a lockdown a few months ago - no drill, police were chasing someone with a knife who abandoned his car near the school. Seems sensible to me.
I've been in lots of fire drills, only one of them turned out to be real. Coke machine caught fire in the canteen and started to fill the building with smoke. I've taken them more seriously since.
[b]Occasionally[/b] we'd get a note sent around with the afternoon register saying that somebody had escaped, and that people should walk home in pairs, not alone
How often do "residents" escape from Broadmoor.
Sounds like a crap "High Security" establishment if the answer is
"occasionally, but it's OK, every time it happens, we send a note round to let people know" 😆
Broadmoor alarm is still tested every Monday
This is the sound of the suburbs?
aTypical in education. Overreaction to something that won't happen.
Bit of an overreaction.
Broadmoor alarm is still tested every Monday.
Good news! They're phasing it out in favour of something far more effective.
A local nutter was arrested With a gun after threatening my village primary last year. He's now in prison &the school has 6ft fencing. In rural Sussex. It isn't just IS.
I remember our sixth form had the nuclear warning siren on the roof, directly above our maths room, that thing was loud, we also had chemical warning for unexpected release from any of the nearby ICI/Tioxide/BASF/BNFL etc arround Tesside.
Back in primary school they were pretty keen on drills, anything worse than two minutes for the whole school to get to the bottom of the playground and registered and we had to do it again.
The one time the school did get bombed, I think we missed about a week and then had months working around scaffolding and builders, no hall and a lot of mess.
When I worked in Japan we had earthquake drills. They involved filing outside the building and walking underneath a wall of plate glass windows 😯
midlifecrashes - where did you go to school?
Northern Ireland in the seventies.
Blimey. Bombing a school's a bit unnecessary.
Back in primary school they were pretty keen on drills, anything worse than two minutes for the whole school to get to the bottom of the playground and registered and we had to do it again.
I did a teaching placement in a primary school where the kids went out through the windows if there was a fire/drill. It emptied the school impressively quickly.
At uni there was so many false alarms that we used to ignore the fire alarms, despite the two actual fires.
At our school (international school in sunny ol' Thailand) we have lock down drills and fire alarm drills. The latter mean lining up in the top sports pitch in the appropriate place. The former means keeping quiet, listening to the teacher and lying on the floor until told to do otherwise.
It seems prudent and the lockdown drill can easily be amended should there be a bomb alert or otherwise.
Surely it sin;t that long since there were desk drills where students practiced hiding from an air raid?
On the subject of fire drills - do you have/need one for your house? My sister's brother in law thought his 3yr old daughter was in their house when it went up in flames but as it happened she was safe in the back garden - he died 10days later from the burn injuries after going in to "rescue" her.
With the complete lack of morals shown by ISIS an attack on a school seems right up their street. Imagine the emotional response it will trigger - just what they want.
With the complete lack of morals shown by ISIS an attack on a school seems right up their street. Imagine the emotional response it will trigger - just what they want.
It might be an uncomfortable topic but I agree. London Bridge was a poor strategic target as an eight minute response could be anticipated and leaves little time for mass carnage. The next target will be softer. If you are after 'terror' and have no moral compass......
Indeed - it makes me shudder, but it is where I am expecting this to go.
As a kid we had quite a few bomb scares, meant getting as far away from the building as possible playing on the school field all afternoon. We loved it.
At school we have a normal fire drill once or twice a year. We might also have a "fire drill" where one of the kids sets off the alarm either by accident or because they're being a pain.
There are varying degrees of lockdown. We've had a few "quiet" lockdowns where there is a possibility of something happening. This is usually a case of closing the windows, pulling the blinds down, shutting the door and not letting kids out of the room. Usually someone will just come to the door and ask us to do it without the kids realising.
You've then got an alarmed lockdown, this will be as the OP suggests. I can't remember us having a drill for this though.
I also have an earthquake drill... but that's only because I have a topic involving earthquakes and want to show what children in other countries have to deal with. The kids love it.
BTW don't just think of a lockdown being needed for a terrorist threat. It could be as someone suggested above that there's someone wanted by the police who could be close to school. It could be that there is a genuine threat from elsewhere, an example being a threat from a parent who has just had their children taken in to care.
In my hometown in Oz, the local primary had a low fence.
One day a nutter stepped over the fence, poured petrol over a kid, and lit him up.
Quick action by a teacher saved the kid but both got significant burns.
Drills are good.
My sister visited on Sunday to ask if we'd raise their son if they got blown up at Robbie Williams concert on Friday.