POLOKWANE – Schools should be a place of safety for both the parents and the children. The environment should be one where parents feel safe to leave their children at during the day. Teachers should ensure that the learners stay safe, in any situation, especially for the younger generation in pre-school or primary phase.
Share Joy-Preschool owner and Principal, Josephine Kagori gives us a few school safety precautions she applies to at her school to ensure the safety of the learners. She tells Review that one of the school safety’s measures she applies at the school is fire safety. She feels this should be taken seriously in an academic environment, especially if little kids and teenagers are around.
“As the owner of the school, I am responsible for the safety of the staff and learners, with assistance from the teachers of course. This includes knowing how to react in the event of an emergency and making sure that everyone has a firm grasp of school fire safety,” she said.
She explains that it is important to have a good fire prevention and evacuation plan in place. “We make sure that our school’s plan is reviewed from time to time, to ensure that it is comprehensive and up to date,” she added.
Josephine emphasises headcount in case of an emergency. “We take a head count of everybody in the safe zone to see if everybody is present. To ensure that the headcount is accurate, teachers should have a list of all the learners in their class. Make sure that learners understand that they should never go back to the building to collect anything until they are given the all-clear,” she explains.
She adds that it is also a good idea to take a close look at established policies from a new perspective so that the school’s plan stays up to date.
“The school ensures that fire exits, alarm stations and stairways are clear at any time of the day. By us doing this as a school, it will make it easier for learners and staff to exit to safety without any hindrance in the event of an emergency,” she concluded.
