Letter to Parents – Lockdown Exercise Tomorrow Thursday 12th May

Letter to parents re the school undertaking a LOCKDOWN EXERCISE TOMORROW (emailed to all parents 11/5/22)

Kia ora parents/caregivers

Recently Richmond School engaged the services of an independent company called Harrison-Tew Ltd, who specialise in emergency management planning for schools. The procedures developed by Harrison-Tew Ltd allow us to respond safely and quickly to a range of circumstances.

As a component of the implementation of the emergency procedures into our school, specialised training has been conducted with the school’s management and staff. Tomorrow afternoon the children will also receive training directed at their respective age groups (conducted by Harrison-Tew Ltd) about how we will respond during a LOCKDOWN. We may go into lockdown at school, due to an event such as a swarm of bees invading our school or a vicious dog on the loose around the school.

The training consists of a low key but detailed approach to potential threats and has been successfully implemented in hundreds of schools throughout New Zealand.

After the training we will be conducting a brief lockdown exercise under the guidance and support of Harrison-Tew Ltd.

The exercise will be as real-life as possible, which means that parents/families will receive notification by email. This information will emphasise that we are conducting a lockdown exercise/practice and will explain that all updated information will then be posted in the school website and facebook page.

If there was a genuine incident, should you hear of a lockdown or evacuation at the school, please do not come to school or phone, as we will not be able to respond. There will be regular updates on our facebook page, website and via emails. Your presence at, or contact with, the school may make it more difficult to manage the situation and could potentially place your child, and in fact, yourselves at risk.

We thank you for your support.

Ngā mihi.

Tim Brenton.

PRINCIPAL