SJF Update: Emergency Procedures

This is a copy of the email shared on Thursday 2nd May 2024


Dear Parents and Carers,

Over the course of a school year we do a number of drills, routinely, to test the effectiveness of our emergency plans and responses in the event of a fire, a major incident or an intruder coming in to school.

• FIRE EMERGENCY - evacuation of school building and assembly on the multi-use games area (MUGA) at the bottom of the playground
• MAJOR INCIDENT - evacuation of the building and grounds and assembly at Spa View Community Church (typically this would be in response to a bomb threat)
• INTRUDER INCIDENT- lockdown in the school building

Key to the success of every emergency procedure is practise and ongoing review.

The shocking incident which took place yesterday, at Birley Academy, underlines the importance of having robust emergency procedures in place in all schools to safeguard children, staff and any visitors who are on site at the time of an incident.

I noted the praise offered to school staff at Birley Academy by the Assistant Chief Constable for the effectiveness of their response and procedures and for their commendable efforts to keep everyone safe, in what must have been the most challenging of circumstances, following on from the tragic events of the previous day in Hainault, Essex.

Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with everyone at Birley Academy and I have written to Mrs Hall, the Headteacher, and her leadership team, to reassure her of this as they now support their community in moving forward from yesterday's events.

In the light of what happened I thought it was timely to test our own lockdown procedures, and so we had a drill earlier today. This meant that:

• external security doors were checked and closed if they were open
• all classrooms were locked and blinds were lowered
• children/staff/visitors out of class at the time of the drill, remained in the room with the door locked and blinds lowered
• toilets were checked and any children in the toilets at the time were taken back to their classroom or to the nearest lockable room with a members of staff
• children working with staff on the corridors or in communal spaces e.g. the hall, were escorted to the nearest lockable spaces
• children out of the school building, in the grounds, would be escorted to the nearest lockable room, supervised by staff

Also key is that children understand that our emergency procedures exist to keep them (and everyone) safe, and so, whether a drill relates to lockdown, fire or a major incident, the priority of all staff is to remain calm and vigilant, whilst offering gentle reassurance to the children, and especially to those who might be feeling a little surprised or unsettled.

This morning's drill went well overall, and everyone was where they were meant to be. As Mrs Ramsden, Mr Murphy and I visited the classrooms and spaces following the drill, to check in on the children and staff - and to get initial feedback - we were struck by how calm everyone was. Anyone needing reassurance was receiving it too. The drill therefore served its purpose and was also useful in highlighting one or two areas where our plan would be enhanced with an update - which we are already working on.

I share this to reassure you that our focus remains resolutely on ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all members of our school community. Though it is very sad that these sorts of plans, procedures and drills are necessary at all, I am confident that you will all agree that they are needed. This of course all needs to be balanced by the fact that emergencies are - thankfully - very rare.

I thank you for your ongoing support.

Yours sincerely,

F Barratt - Headteacher