1. Evacuation
Evacuation gets everyone out of the building and to a safe distance, when the building itself is the danger. Most schools already practise this through fire drills.
What makes it fit your school: knowing when the usual assembly point is not far enough away, where you would go instead if the site and surrounding area were cordoned off, and who makes that decision.
2. Invacuation
Invacuation brings everyone inside, or further inside, and away from windows and entrances, when the danger is outside the building. That includes a threat in the school grounds, at the gates or on a nearby road.
It works against years of fire drill habit, because staff are used to the alarm meaning "get out". That is why invacuation needs its own signal, clearly different from the fire alarm, and why it needs practising.
What makes it fit your school: which rooms are safest, how pupils outside at break or on the field are brought in, and who closes which doors.
3. Lockdown
Lockdown secures people where they are, when a threat is inside the building. Doors are secured, people stay out of sight and silent, and nobody moves through corridors.
What makes it fit your school: how each classroom can be secured, what pupils do if they are away from their class when lockdown sounds, and how the all-clear is given so that staff can trust it. Rooms stay locked until the all-clear signal and the school's agreed codeword.
Invacuation and lockdown: the difference
- Invacuation: the threat is outside the building. Everyone moves inward. The building protects them.
- Lockdown: the threat is inside the building. Nobody moves. The room protects them.
Almost every mistake in this area comes from blurring the two. A school that only ever practises evacuation has, without meaning to, trained its staff to do the wrong thing in an invacuation.
4. Communication
Communication holds the other three together. It has two parts:
- On site: a fast, reliable way to tell everyone which procedure is in force, with a distinct signal for each. It does not need to be expensive. It does need to be heard everywhere, including the hall, the field and the kitchen.
- Off site: who calls the emergency services, how parents are told what is happening and when, and who handles any media interest.
If your school's bell or alert system cannot give distinct signals, agree four patterns it can give, and add any gap to your action list.
What makes a procedure work
The test is simple: could this have been written for any school in the country? If so, it is not finished. A procedure that works names your entrances, your rooms, your signals and the people responsible, and it is short enough for staff to remember under pressure.
For the full picture of what Martyn's Law asks of schools, read Martyn's Law for schools: what you need to do.
