Lancashire school children practicing for classroom lockdowns incase of attacks or terrorism

Children as young as four are being drilled on lockdown proceedures - including getting under their desks. The aim is to protect children and staff from a terrorist/extremist weapons attack until the police arrive to take control of the situation.

A Department for Education Lockdown Template available to schools gives an action plan for lockdown proceedure, including turning off lights, fans and mobile air conditioning units as “this will reduce noise and the risk of exposure to any chemical/biological attack” and instructions to stay as silent as possible and consider writing messages on whiteboards, as long as they can’t be seen by the intruder.

The move “has been in place for many years” according to Lancashire County Council, though parents who went through the school system some years ago might be unaware. It is a practice that is endorsed by the NASUWT teachers union who say lockdown practices should be treated in the same way that schools prepare for a fire.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council: "Most schools have a lockdown procedure where they practice what might happen if there was a threat in the school building as part of their individual risk assessments around health and safety and national safeguarding legislation.

"There is no set procedure or set amount of times to practice this as this is up to each school to determine in line with their risk assessments. Schools will ensure these procedures are age appropriate. "This has been in place for many years."

Probability is “very low”

The NASUWT have issued their own set of lockdown recommendations and say: “All staff and pupils need to know how to respond in a lockdown situation. It should be stressed that the probability of an incident involving an intruder(s) seeking to cause harm in any school is very low. However, in exactly the same way that schools should prepare for a fire, they should be prepared to respond to all eventualities.

“This guidance is not intended solely for use in cases of intruders, but could also be employed whenever the safety of staff and pupils could be at risk, for example in cases of civil disturbance or a major fire or other incident nearby.”