Nottinghamshire School Introduces Terror Attack 'Safe Rooms'

26 January 2016, 17:18 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A Capital investigation has uncovered that a school in Nottinghamshire has introduced US-style ‘safe rooms’ to protect children from attack.

Children as young as five at Leamington Primary Academy, Sutton-in-Ashfield, have been practicing lock down drills following the Paris shootings last year.

Capital reporter Connor Gillies has spoken to parents at the school. They said the children had done drills in order to protect them from ‘bad people.’

The pupils were rushed through corridors and told to hide under desks in a room deemed "safe" by School Partnership Trust officials.

One woman's daughter says her teacher barricaded the room shut with a chair and shouted, "get down."

Parents said they were suprised to find out about the drill, but cautiously welcomed their introduction.

“After what we saw on the news I wouldn’t be surprised if happened anywhere. If the situation corps up then its different, but at the minute it’s just to say it keeps them safe and that makes them feel better,” said one parent.

“I’d much prefer that they would be prepared if it did happen than have somebody come into the school and they’d be all screaming and making noises,” said another parent.

In statement the school said; “Leamington takes safeguarding extremely seriously and offers our pupils lots of opportunities to learn about keeping safe. The lockdown drills are only a small part of these opportunities which allow our children the chance to explore and experience different scenarios, in a safe and controlled manner."

"Our pupils can tell visitors to the academy about e safety, road safety, fire safety and many other areas which we constantly update. Indeed the most recent one has related to our new build and how to ensure everyone is kept safe and can enjoy observing the building as it develops. “

Safe rooms at the schools in the US are increasing after a number of shocking shootings.

Capital spoke with Rob Illingworth from the NUT in Nottinghamshire.