At our school, the safety and wellbeing of our pupils and staff is our highest priority. As part of our commitment to maintaining a safe environment, we regularly practise both fire and lockdown procedures so that everyone knows how to respond calmly and effectively in an emergency.  Our procedures are part of the way in which we support children to feel safe, and to reassure them that adults are here to care for them.

Our Approach

We carry out a programme of drills throughout the academic year:

• Fire drills take place in Terms 1, 3 and 5
• Lockdown drills take place in Terms 2, 4 and 6

To ensure preparedness while remaining sensitive to pupils’ wellbeing, we vary how these drills are introduced:

• In the autumn term, children are given advance notice
• In the spring term, staff are informed of the date and time in advance
• In the summer term, drills are conducted without prior notice

How We Support Children

We are mindful that safety procedures must be communicated in a way that is reassuring and appropriate for primary-aged children. Staff use simple, clear explanations:

• Fire drills are described as practising how to leave the building quickly and safely
• Lockdown drills are described as practising how to get inside quickly and safely

For lockdown drills, we use familiar and non-threatening examples, such as:

• A dog loose on the playground
• An incident on the main road where we need to stay “out of the way”

While we recognise that lockdown procedures may be used in more serious situations, the likelihood of these occurring in our setting is extremely low. We therefore do not discuss more complex scenarios with pupils, as this may cause unnecessary anxiety.

Duration of Drills

All drills are kept brief and purposeful. Once all pupils and staff have been safely accounted for, the drill concludes. Typically, this takes no more than two minutes for both fire and lockdown procedures.

Further Information

If you would like any further information about our safety procedures, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.