Lockdown: Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Thankfully, most schools now have lockdown procedures in place but because the likelihood of needing them is so low, they are often more focused on compliance than practical implementation.  From our experience of reviewing hundreds of schools’ procedures, we have observed four common pitfalls that you can use to check against your own.

1. Extreme scenarios only

Most schools now have robust procedures for a lockdown situation where there is a known, immediate risk to life such as an armed intruder onsite during school hours. While essential, this scenario is mercifully very rare in the UK.  A procedure designed for such a high risk but very low likelihood situation is difficult to adapt to more likely, lower threat situations.  This is made harder to reconcile when following counter terrorism frameworks such as ‘Run-Hide-Tell’ and applying this to an event in school.

The far more common ‘lockdown’ scenario occurs when, for example, the police request the pupils be kept inside due to an external risk nearby.  Other situations Pharos Response clients have experienced are caused by a dangerous animal, police searches for an offender near the school, a chemical spill, or a person seen acting suspiciously outside the school perimeter. Hiding under desks and barricading doors in these instances is likely to be excessive and unnecessarily stressful, and erodes staff confidence with the lockdown plan from the outset.  Updated police advice of ‘Guide-Shelter-Report’ will fit most scenarios better from a school management perspective. 

For the reasons above, we have always recommended a more dynamic approach to lockdown that is still simple to activate by colleagues in stressful situations.  A two-tier lockdown framework would work for schools with a relatively simple estate to manage:

• Tier 1 – Lockout.  Alternatively this could be called a partial / perimeter lockdown or ‘shelter in place’ and would suit the more lower threat but higher likelihood situations. Responses would include securing perimeter gates, all external doors, windows and keeping pupils and staff safely indoors.  This is a temporary measure but could be maintained if necessary and until the threat passes, for several hours with adjusted indoor teaching continuing as normal.
• Tier 2 – Full lockdown: This would be what most schools consider when designing a lockdown procedure and would involve the perimeter lockout steps (if time allows) and immediate internal containment in response to an immediate threat on site.  Examples could include an armed intruder or other violent threat in school.  Staff would be expected to secure individual classroom doors, turn off lights, supervise pupils to hide out of sight and stay silent.  This is likely to be a stressful situation for pupils and staff, but is a temporary procedure until the arrival of police emergency responders.  

If your policy only covers a full lockdown, expanding it to include a more flexible ‘lockout’ profile will minimise disruption while maintaining safety.  More complex sites may also need invacuation processes.  

2. Neglecting parent communications

We recently assisted a client school that successfully activated a ‘lockout’ procedure after a suspicious individual with what looked like a samurai sword was spotted near their fence. Everyone was safe on site, but because the school procedure lacked pre-drafted parent communications for ‘lockout’, they quickly faced parental panic, misinformation on social media and calls from local press.

Drafting new messages during a live, fast moving event is inefficient and prone to error. Don’t find yourself in this situation, expand your lockdown procedures to include pre-written templates for:

• Initial notification: A version tailored to each of the lockdown profiles you operate, outlining the nature of the action and explicitly directing parents not to travel to the school or call reception, which keeps phone lines and access routes clear for emergency services.
• All clear – incident resolved: Used when the threat has passed without incident or when it becomes clear the issue was a false alarm, detailing normal pickup / dismissal arrangements.
• All clear – incident ongoing: Used when the immediate danger has passed, but the surrounding area remains active or cordoned off by police. This is likely to include clear instructions for phased dismissal and collection instructions, as directed by emergency services.

Simply asking parents not to come and collect their children during a full lockdown that they have seen on the news is unlikely to work.  But if you have communicated effectively in advance and during the incident, and if they have seen similar requests during practice lockdown exercises previously, it may help reduce some parental anxiety and reduce the number who follow their immediate instinct to rush to the school.  That brings us onto lockdown rehearsals. 

3. Treating rehearsals as a compliance exercise 

Whilst no real emergency lockdown situation where people are hurt and armed police descend on a school is likely to go to plan, it will be worse and far more stressful for pupils and staff if it hasn’t been practiced previously.  For a similar risk, that is why fire drills are conducted so frequently and help avoid unnecessary stress.  

We recommend a planned approach to lockdown practice (think rehearsal rather than a drill) that is communicated to staff, pupils and parents in advance.  This will help maintain more of a training element rather than a test, and will reduce stress and anxiety in pupils for whom this might otherwise be more dysregulating.

An effective rehearsal plan relies on a phased approach that will help build confidence:

Phase	Target audience	Objective
1. Desktop exercise	Senior leadership & Governors	Walk through scenarios, alarms, test decision-making triggers, roles and responsibilities, escalation, verify communication flows and general school management response to the incident.  Pharos can facilitate this phase for you.
2. Staff walkthrough	All school staff	Train staff on alarm recognition, door-securing and panic protocols without pupils present. This may be conducted after school or on an INSET day for example. Pharos can facilitate this phase for you.
3. Assembly briefing	Staff & pupils	Inform pupils of the key protocols relevant to them and the different alarms, reassure of the more likely lockout-type scenarios to reduce anxiety. Share information with parents and keep informed of rehearsals and sample communications. Also consider SEN pupils’ needs specifically.
4. Announced rehearsal	Staff & pupils	Conduct a calm, staged practice run facilitated by well informed staff. Explain the rehearsal to pupils beforehand using age-appropriate language to build confidence rather than fear. Inform parents in advance and consider any SEN pupils’ needs specifically.  Repeat at least annually, ideally in the first term when there are higher numbers of new staff and pupils.   Do not be tempted to jump straight to this phase when pupils and staff will be ill-prepared and risk the rehearsal negatively impacting confidence in the procedures. Pharos can facilitate this phase for you.

 

4. Assuming lockdown events only happen during class time

Most school client lockdown plans reviewed by Pharos Response assume the situation occurs when pupils are in lesson time or under the direct care of teaching staff.  This is an understandable focus but neglects many other situations when a threat could also arise.  Examples include events such as parents evenings, open days or summer fairs potentially where members of the public access the site.  Other more complex times include the transitional time between teaching and external lettings, wraparound care, after school clubs, public examination and residential boarding.  

Failing to risk assess and consider such situations creates incomplete response arrangements and can undermine the whole process.  We recommend considering such situations and adapting emergency arrangements so that they cover such times.  And in common with all procedures, they need to communicate in an effective way to those they apply to and this may include school support staff, external hirer staff and other partners.  

 

More information & help

If you’d like Pharos to support you with your lockdown arrangements, contact us at info@pharos-response.co.uk, complete this form enquiry form  or call us during office hours on 01183 800 140.  

You can also join us on the following webinar:

Click here to register for the webinar

Beyond Martyn’s Law – are you ready?

2nd December 2026 – 1.30pm – 2.30pm

This session will go beyond the Martyn’s Law guidance and explore how schools can better plan their lockdown emergency response.  Using real examples and case studies, we will share some practical lessons learned and how to avoid potential mistakes that could damage the school community’s confidence, invite regulatory oversight and in the worst case, potentially compromise safety.