Schools should not lock down over email threats unless the move is “actively” recommended by police or leaders are satisfied it is a “proportionate response” to an immediate physical threat, the government has said.
The Department for Education (DfE) reiterated its school and college security guidance in an email to headteachers today following a recent spate of malicious communications sent to schools.
Last month, schools in three counties went into lockdown in the space of a week after receiving emails “threatening violence to children and staff”.
In its message to leaders, the DfE said it was “aware of several recent malicious email threats to education settings in a number of local authority areas.
