AVON VALLEY SCHOOL
Fortnightly News
September 30th 2017
This week the students have all received assemblies about the school’s new lockdown procedure.
Clearly we all hope that such a procedure is never needed, but sadly, with several terrorist attacks
in England in the last few months, I feel that it is important that Avon Valley plans for an
emergency situation and that students and staff are given the opportunity to practice for this - in
much the same way that we do with our regular fire drills.
To keep you informed, a copy of our Lockdown procedure has been added to the school website
today in the policy folder and I encourage you to read it, so that you are aware of the steps that we
would take to keep your sons and daughters safe if a scenario of this type arose. I would also ask
that if you become aware that the school is in lockdown that you do not approach the site or call
the school as the phones will not be answered during lockdown. In a real lockdown scenario, the
emergency services would be in attendance and they would clearly find their work hampered by
people attempting to access the site.
Having informed all students about the procedure there will be a practice at some point in the next
two weeks to give us all the opportunity to run through the procedure and see if any amendments
need to be made.
Clearly it is important that students remain calm and follow staff instructions in a lockdown, in just
the same way that they do during a fire drill. To this end I would appreciate you talking to your child
about the need for the school to have this type of procedure and reinforcing our expectations that
students show a mature and calm response.
Kind regards,
Alison Davies
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