Dear Parents/Guardians,

October is safety awareness month at South Nelson Elementary School. As you know, part of this involves practicing several safety drills at school, including fire, earthquake, hold and secure, and lockdown to ensure that students and staff are prepared in the event of an emergency. In the upcoming weeks we will be holding a fire drill, earthquake drill, a hold and secure, and a lockdown drill. Safety drills can sometimes cause anxiety in students, and we request that parents discuss the upcoming drills with their children. Please reassure them that emergencies in schools are rare and that drills are for their safety.

Below you will find more information about these drills.

Hold and Secure is a procedure which keeps students secure inside a school when something such a gas leak, weather, unsafe animals, or persons outside of the school who may be threatening the general community.  During a hold and secure procedure, only authorized people may enter the school. All doors will be locked, and a notice posted indicating that the school is in a hold and secure situation. This procedure allows school activity to continue as normal during the outside disruption until the threat is cleared.

Lockdown is used when there is an immediate threat to the school (i.e. school intruders).  Lockdown minimizes the intruders’ access to the school and secures staff and students in rooms.  As part of this procedure, everyone must remain silent in rooms until the situation has been declared safe by an authorized person (i.e. principal or police personnel). Please note that during a lockdown it is important for students to not use cell phones – this is to ensure the safety of our students.

A lockdown or hold and secure situation may occur on any day and at any time, including the beginning or the end of the school day.  A lockdown or hold and secure situation may last for several hours.

The Great Shakedown Earthquake Drill (https://www.shakeout.org/index.html):  The International ShakeOut Day, every third Thursday of October, is a day of individual and community events featuring the largest earthquake drill ever, organized to inspire others to get ready for big earthquakes, and to prevent disasters from becoming catastrophes. What we do to prepare now, before the next big earthquake, will determine how well we can survive and recover. ShakeOut will occur in houses, workplaces, schools, and public spaces on October 19, 2023. During the drill, students learn how to drop, cover and hold on in the event of an earthquake.

Here is a schedule of our upcoming drills:

October 16 – Hold and Secure

October 19 – The Great Shakedown Provincial Earthquake Drill

October 24 – Lockdown drill

October 27 – Fire Drill

 Please let me know if you have any questions,

Best regards,

Dawn Snell,

Principal

Photo credit: https://www.myallianceinsurance.com/emergency-preparedness-for-business-owners/