Emergency Lockdown Guidance for Parents – Explained

The Governors of Castleford Park Junior Academy are committed to protecting the security, safety and welfare of its pupils, staff and third parties working on, or visiting the premises. To meet this commitment the school has a robust and tested lockdown procedure.

What is a lockdown?  

A lockdown procedure is a standard health and safety procedure similar to a fire drill and is a precautionary measure in response to a threat directly to the school, or in the surrounding community. In a lockdown, all school activities are moved indoors depending on the type of lockdown, and interior and exterior doors are locked. No one is allowed to enter or exit the building. Once a lockdown is put into place, we will work together with the emergency services to first ensure the safety of everyone in the school – before communicating with parents.

Lockdown procedures are a sensible and proportionate response to any external or internal incident, which has the potential to pose a threat to the safety of staff and pupils in the school. They are unlikely to be used regularly but will be practised in the event that they are ever needed. Situations where our lockdown procedure may be used include:

• ​​A potentially dangerous person or animal on the school site
• A disturbance or dangerous situation in the local community that could affect the school
• A nearby chemical incident or other risk of air pollution
• An incident related to terrorism 

Communication with Parents

Once the situation has been stabilised, parents will be notified as soon as it is practicable to do so via the text messaging service and Bloomz with a brief description of the threat. Please ensure school has your most up-to-date emergency contact information on hand.

PUPILS WILL NOT BE RELEASED TO PARENTS DURING A LOCKDOWN. 

Parents will wait for further information/instructions and refrain from calling the school as this may tie up emergency lines. 

Please trust that the school will always act in the best interests of your children and will contact you in an emergency situation if your child really needs you – and it is a situation where you can realistically help – and you are able to access school safely.  

Parents should not discuss the event on social media, as this may spread false information and create panic.  

If the end of the day is extended due to the lock down, parents will be notified and will receive information about the time and location to pick students up from. 

A letter to parents will be sent home following any serious incident to inform parents of the context of the lock down and encourage parents to reinforce with their children the importance of following procedures in these very rare circumstances, should they occur.