Figure 1.--Here a class is moving as a group at bdouble time from the main svhool building to the area judged to be the safest at the school. Notice all the class windows, a class remaining in their classroom would have been badly injured evn by a near mis.

A school air raid drill began with a senior pupil walking down the hall. Of course local sirens would alert to an actual attack. For a drill a student would be instructed to give an alert. He blew a whistle to give an air raid alert or shook a hand rattle to signal a gas attack. The student went down the hall and did his thing outside each classroom door. The response varied from day to day depending on the purpose of the drill. On some days the children might be instructed to put on their gas masks and continue working with them on. This was to both train the children on how to put on the masks fast and to get used wearing them for an extended period while carrying on with their classroom school work. On other days the children might be instructed to grab their masks and carry them to the safe area previously designated at the school. Here the teacher had to organize a system that permitted each child to quickly ger his or her mask which was often stored in the clokeroom. The children were taught to move in class groups and at quick time so the children could get into the safe area in an orderly fashion in a matter of minutes. The children learned to move as group with no one getting out in frint or falling behind. Their also might be ocassional drills with the children practicing getting under their desk and overing their faces to prepare for instance when adequate warning was not received. Fortunately the British Chain Home Network provided for timely warning. The children might brings books with them to read on the safe areas. Of course there were no real safe areas. Schools did not have bomb shelters. These were just areas judged the most safe at the school. If a German bomb made a direct hit, it could totally destroy the school and the children in it. Some teachers might even try to teach some lessons. Normally they did not put on their gas masks in the safe areas, but their might be occasional drills just to make sure they could do so quickly. The time devoted to the drills varied. Some were done quickly. In other instances they might spend more tome in the safe areas to get the children accustomed to longer periods during a raid. When the Blitz beggan the children might spent a good deal of time in the safe areas. This was fairly common when the Lufwaffe began hammering London (September 1940). A bell was used to signal an all clear.

Preparations

A great deal of effort had to go into preparing a school for air attacks. The air raid drills were only part of the process. An ARP publication goes into several steps: 1) organizing the cwork to be done, 2)Preparing the school property, 3) air raid drills, training protective personnel, what to do in an actual raid, and 7) Importance of parentband community cooperation. As far as we can tell this was up to each head master or head teachere, ThevARP orb MOE apparently provided brochires, but the schools had to do most of the work themselves. We are not ure to what extent each school's plan was vetted by the ARP or MOE.

Drill Alert

A school air raid drill began with a senior pupil walking down the hall. Of course local sirens would alert to an actual attack. For a drill a student would be instructed to siound the alert for each classroom. Often a senior student was on duty for just such assignments or to carry messages from the headmaster. The student either blew a whistle to give a conventional air raid alert or shook a hand rattle to signal a gas attack. The student went down the hall and did his thing outside each classroom door. They even opened each door and sounded the whistle or rattle to make sure the teacher and children got the message. I am guessing the boys and girls who got that assignment thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Class Response

The classroom was the key unit in airraid prepoarations. The children were drilled in the classroom and they moved to the shelters in class hroups. Here of course the tacher was thevkey. The classroom response varied from day to day depending on the purpose of the drill. This was never announced in advance to make sure the children were prepared to act immeiately to the different circumstances. The two major drills were 1) putting on the gas masks in the classroomm and 2) school wide moving to the designated safe areas. This was done as a class group and carefully choreographed so it could be done as quickly as possible. The children were timed and encouraged to improve on their performances. There might occassionally be special drills of various kinds. One school film made the point, "regular practice and drill is maintained at all times and the effiency is extrordinarily high." As the Blitz began the children became increasingly proficient. And the schools traind the children with various senarios. Such as a bomb raid without warning. The Chain Home Network was very effective, but it was not perfect. Thus the children ere trined how to seek cover if the bombs befgan falling while they were still in their classrooms.

Safe Areas

The children might brings books with them to read on the safe areas. Of course there were no real safe areas. Few schools hade bomb shelters. We do note some structures built or reinforced with sand bags. Presumably the MOE or ARP provided technical asiistance in constructing these. We are not sure how effective they were or how many schools had them. Building shelters for an entire school was usually not feasible. W note a scholl in Wales that had access to a shelter built in a nearby park, but this ws an exception. They were called bomb shelters, but that seems a streach in terms of what a real bomb sheter should be, Knoll School in Hove had one of these structures. They called it 'The Trenches'. Some schools may have had Andeson shelters or slit trenches. Anderson shelters took up to much space to be very useful for many schools. One souce tells us, "There were air raid shelters built in the school grounds; half underground, they always smelt damp." [Arnold] Every school had its own uniques qualities and issues. Often there was not one single area for the whole school. Some classes might be assigned different areas. Here theey would be tested to determine how well the group assigned fittited into the area. We note a photograph of of a school in Middlesex thatbcould accomodate 1,000 children in 'deep sheltrs', but this was very rare. Facilities to safely accomodate an entire school were rare. Most students had to make do with areas judged the most safe at the school. This might be the hall way in the main building. Or it could be some other sturdfy structire. It had to be away from windows. If a German bomb made a direct hit, it could totally destroy the school and the children in it. Some teachers might even try to teach some lessons in the safe areas as they were sometimes there for a while. This was more common during actual air raids. Normally the children did not put on their gas masks in the safe areas, but their might be occasional drills just to make sure they could do so quickly.

Time

After the children were judged to be proficent the schools got down to holding the drill every few weeks, at least a school-wide drill. This varied from school to school. The time devoted to the drills varied. Some were done quickly. In other instances they might spend more ttme in the safe areas to get the children accustomed to longer periods during a raid. When the Blitz began the children might spent a good deal of time in the safe areas. This was fairly common when the Lufwaffe began hammering London (September 1940). Many children had been evacuated, but the evacuation was voluntary and many parents kept their children with them. A bell was used to signal an all clear.

Sources

Arnold, Mavus. "School in war-time Britain," Personal reminisences of U3A members.

Moshenska, Gabriel. Government gas vans and school gas chambers: Preparadness and paranoia in Britain, 1936-1941," Medicine , Conflict and Survival Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 223-34.

Created: 4:35 PM 1/13/2014
Last updated: 8:52 PM 5/29/2023