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Chesswood Junior School

Chesswood Junior School

Emergency Lock Down

Emergency Lockdown Procedure

Our primary aim as a school is the safety and wellbeing of our pupils, to support us in achieving this we have many policies in place, including how we would respond to a potential incident either in the community or directly affecting the school.

  1. One of these policies is our ‘Lockdown’ procedure, the aim of this policy is to support our staff in safeguarding our pupils from a variety of potential hazards that many arise, these include:  
  2. A reported incident, disturbance in the local community;
  3. An intruder on the site;
  4. A warning being received regarding a local risk of air pollution (smoke plume, gas cloud etc.);
  5. A major incident in the vicinity of the school;
  6. The close proximity of a dangerous animal.

Our procedure aims to minimise disruption to the learning environment whilst ensuring the safety of all pupils and staff. There are three tiers,

  1. partial (everybody in from outside and continue working normally),
  2. full (everybody in form outside and any general school areas to classrooms; circle time in class) and
  3. full+(everybody in form outside and any general school areas to classrooms; children and staff under tables or other robust safe protection)

In the event of an emergency that requires the school to be locked down the following actions may be taken, please note this is not an exhaustive list and is being provided as a summary only, exact actions will be dependent on the incident:

  • Staff will ensure all pupils are inside the school buildings and lock any outside doors and close any windows that may be open;
  • If pupils are outside, staff will bring them back into their classrooms;
  • A register will be taken and any pupil not present will be notified to senior staff who will arrange a search for the missing pupil;
  • Site and office staff will ensure all external doors are secured and closed;
  • Emergency services will be notified;
  • A message will be sent to parents and carers via our normal systems to advise of the emergency;
  • Pupils will not be released to anyone for any reason from the school until the all clear is given – it is hoped that all parents will understand that ;
  • Parents/Carers MUST NOT try to contact the school or come to the school until the all clear has been given. This can both block essential routes of communications and hamper the emergency services.