Emergencies at School: What Parents Should Set Up Now
When something happens at a school — a fire nearby, a lockdown, a flood cutting the roads — every parent has the same instinct, and it is usually wrong.
Driving to the school during an emergency adds traffic to the road emergency vehicles need, puts you in the hazard you are trying to remove your child from, and interferes with a plan the school has already rehearsed. Schools evacuate and lock down regularly, with staff who have practised it, in buildings designed for it.
The useful work is done weeks earlier, in the school office, on a form.
The 10-minute version
- Do not drive to the school unless the school asks you to. Follow their instructions and go to the place they nominate. Roads are frequently the hazard.
- Fix the permissions now — who may collect your child, current phone numbers, medical and medication details, consent for emergency care.
- Ask the office four questions (below) and write the answers on your family emergency plan.
The four questions to ask
Ring or email the office. It takes five minutes and almost no parent does it.
1. “What is your emergency plan for fire, flood and lockdown, and where would students be taken?” Many schools have a nominated off-site assembly point. Knowing it means you go to the right place instead of the school gate.
2. “How will you contact parents?” SMS, app notification, email, a phone tree, or the website. Then make sure you are actually subscribed to whatever it is, and that the number they have is the one you carry.
3. “Who is authorised to collect my child, and how do I add someone?” Add two people beyond the parents — a grandparent, a neighbour, a friend — because the day it matters you may be forty minutes away or at work in another suburb.
4. “What happens if a student cannot be collected?” Schools supervise until every child is accounted for. Hearing that said out loud removes an enormous amount of the anxiety that drives parents onto the road.
The paperwork to fix
- Current mobile numbers for both parents, and a landline or work number as backup.
- Two authorised collectors beyond the parents, with their numbers.
- Medical details: conditions, allergies, anaphylaxis plan, asthma plan.
- Medication held at school, in date, with written instructions. Check the expiry every year — school-held EpiPens and Ventolin routinely expire unnoticed.
- Consent for emergency medical treatment.
- Your out-of-area contact, if the form allows one. In a widespread event, an interstate relative is easier to reach than you are.
- Any custody or contact restrictions, clearly documented.
What to teach the child
Age-appropriate, calm, and framed as knowing what to do.
- The school’s plan comes first. Do what the teacher says, stay with the group. This matters most for older children who may otherwise decide to walk home.
- Never leave with someone not on the list, even someone they know.
- Your phone number, memorised. Not just in a phone.
- The out-of-area contact’s name, for older children.
- What to do if they are walking home and something happens — go back to school, or to a nominated house, not to an empty home.
- How to call 000 and say the address.
Older children with phones need one extra instruction: text, do not call. Texts get through congested networks; calls do not, and a hundred students calling parents at once is exactly how a local network congests.
During an event
- Wait for the school’s message. Resist the group chat, which will be full of confident misinformation.
- Text rather than call, both the school and the child.
- Go where the school says, when the school says. Not before.
- Report in to the out-of-area contact so the family knows where everyone is.
- If roads are closed or flooded, do not attempt them. Your child is supervised; a parent in floodwater is a second emergency.
- Listen to ABC Local Radio on batteries for area-wide information the school will not have.
What actually goes wrong
Parents drive to the school, congesting the roads emergency services need and arriving into the hazard.
The school has an old phone number, so the message goes nowhere.
Only the parents are authorised, and both are at work across town.
School-held medication has expired.
The child does not know a phone number by memory.
Everyone calls at once, congesting the local network for everyone including staff.
A teenager decides to walk home to an empty house through the area that is on fire or flooded.
The group chat becomes the source of truth, and it is wrong.
Thresholds
| Situation | The rule |
|---|---|
| Start of every school year | Contacts updated, two extra collectors added, medication checked and in date |
| Any school emergency | Follow the school’s instructions. Do not self-deploy |
| Contacting the school or child | Text, do not call |
| Roads closed or flooded | Do not attempt them. Your child is supervised |
| Information | The school’s official channel, plus ABC Local Radio. Not the group chat |
| Collection | Only from the location the school nominates, at the time they nominate |
| Children with phones | Text, stay with the group, never leave with someone not on the list |
What it costs
| Tier | Spend | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | The four questions asked, contacts and collectors updated, medication checked, the child taught the phone number, the school’s plan written on your family plan |
| Free but overlooked | $0 | Subscribing to the school’s actual notification channel and testing that you receive it |
| Solid | ~$40 | A battery radio at home, so area-wide information does not depend on the phone network |
The drill: the start-of-year fifteen minutes
Do this in the first week of every school year.
- Five minutes. Email the office the four questions. Save the answers.
- Three minutes. Update contact numbers and add two authorised collectors.
- Three minutes. Check any school-held medication and its expiry date.
- Two minutes. Confirm you are subscribed to the school’s notification channel, and that you have received something from it recently.
- Two minutes. Practise the phone number with your child until they can say it without thinking, and add the school’s plan to the fridge page.
Frequently asked questions
Should I drive to my child’s school in an emergency?
Not unless the school asks you to. Driving there congests roads that emergency services need, puts you in the hazard, and cuts across a plan the school has rehearsed. Wait for their instruction and go where they nominate.
How will the school contact me?
Ask, and then confirm you are actually subscribed — schools use SMS, apps, email or phone trees, and the most common failure is an out-of-date mobile number on the file.
Who should be on the authorised collection list?
Both parents plus at least two others — a grandparent, neighbour or trusted friend — because on the day you may be at work across town or on a closed road.
What should I teach my child?
To follow the teacher and stay with the group, never to leave with someone not on the list, to text rather than call, and to know your phone number from memory. Older children also need a rule against walking home to an empty house.
Why text instead of call?
Texts queue and get through congested networks; calls fail. When hundreds of students and parents dial at once, the local network congests for everyone, including staff trying to coordinate.
What if I cannot get to the school at all?
Schools supervise students until every child is accounted for. That is exactly why the authorised-collector list and current contact details matter more than being able to arrive quickly.