Health and Safety: Fire Drill

One way that we take care of our students’ health and safety needs is through organizing fire drills several times a year.  We hosted a Fire Drill this past Monday 29 April.

A fire drill starts off with sirens ringing throughout the campus.  Teachers who are teaching in classrooms lead their students outside to the field.  Students who may have Study Hall during that time go to the nearest field, which could be in Primary or Secondary; teachers circulate to ensure that they go right away.

On the field, the Secondary teachers organize the students by Advisory and take attendance; Primary teachers organize the students by classroom and take attendance.  Teachers report student attendance to administrators by holding up a green or pink/red sign.  Green means that all students are present; pink/red means that someone is missing and the security team and administrators need to find them.

Fire drills are timed from start to finish.  "Finish" means that every student, teacher, and support staff member has been accounted for.

Fire drill success is measured not just in the time it takes to account for every person, but also through observations of student behavior.  Were the students calm?  To what extent did they follow instructions?  Did they seem confident in understanding the procedures?

At this week's Fire Drill, we noticed that our students were quiet, listening, and went right to the field.