During the recent shooting of a police officer in West Auckland, Catherine & Jade (Facilitators for Massey Babies & Beyond) had to shelter in place at Massey Playcentre with 15 babies & 17 parents on session.
To read more about this incident click here.
Following this, here are some things for Centres to consider or re-familiarise themselves with:
- Ensure that you are familiar with the Sheltering in Place Procedure (which can be found here on our website) and that your Centre is practicing the Sheltering in Place drill (or reverse evacuation/lockdown) on every session, every 3 months.
- The Ministry of Education’s (MoE) key points for sheltering in place is below:
- MoE phones each Centre affected
- MoE send their Playcentre MoE contact a text to say lockdown/etc in your area
- If no response to text then they phone Playcentre MoE contact as well
- After the emergency ends the MoE will phone the Centre directly
- If necessary, remind all members and visitors present that as part of signing-in to the Centre, they agreed to follow our Policies and Procedures which are designed for their safety.
- Please ensure that your Civil Defense Kit is stocked, handy and ideally inside (the Civil Defense Kit and First Aid Kit Contents can be found here on our website).
- As soon as possible, inform your regional office of the incident.
- News agencies may contact you or arrive on site. Focus on your role and do your best to not be distracted by media. Recommended response: “My top priority is to care for Playcentre whānau and keep them safe. For more information you can contact [email protected]“.