EVACUTION and LOCKDOWN:

We have recently reviewed our fire drill evacuation procedures in school. Alongside this, for your information, children will be taking part in lockdown drills following updated Derbyshire guidance (detailed below). These practises will be taking place over the next few days.

Due to recent events, some quite local to some of our Derbyshire Schools, Derbyshire actively encourages schools to practice / rehearse their lockdown plan to make sure staff and pupils understand what to do if an event or attack happens on their premises.

Thankfully, situations where sites need to operate a lockdown are rare. However, as with any emergency situation, it is strongly advised that sites have a procedure in place to deal with this.

Lockdown procedures should be seen as a sensible response to any external or internal incident which could prove a threat to the safety of the pupils / young people and staff at the school / setting.

Like a fire drill, they are an emergency procedure which it is hoped will never be used in earnest. However, as with a fire drill, it is essential that they are practiced appropriately so that all staff know how to react, and their roles should it ever have to be activated.

Some examples of when lockdown procedures may be activated are given below:

A reported incident / civil disturbance in the local community with the potential to pose a risk to staff and pupils / young people.
An intruder on the site (with the potential to pose a risk to staff and pupils / young people).
A person who is known to the site and known to pose a risk to staff and/or pupils/young people enters the site uninvited.
A warning being received regarding a risk locally of air pollution (smoke plume, gas cloud) or chemical, biological, or radiological contamination.
A major fire close to the site.
A dangerous animal roaming loose in the vicinity of the site.