This Sunday, September 28, 2008, our North Augusta Campus will have our first practice “drill” in Journey land. Over the past several months, our staff at TrueNorth Church has gone over a plan to get our little ones out in a safe and timely fashion in the event of an emergency.
The next two Sundays will help us do a few things:
1. Prepare leaders and volunteers in the event of an emergency.
2. Allow our children to experience this in real time so that in the event of an evacuation they will be familiar and not caught off guard.
3. Our priority is the safety and health of each child in Journey land. This will help us do it with excellence.
If you are a volunteer and you will be in Journey land, North Augusta, be ready to spend time in your area in preparation. (We will practice this drill Sept. 28th and Oct. 5th)
Reminder: (not in a specific order)
· You will need to remember to bring your classroom logs with you as we leave the building.
· Gather the children in a calm orderly fashion and head to the closest exit marked on your evacuation diagram.
· We have ropes in each classroom; older children will hold onto one of the rings and follow in line. At this time you should do a head count of the children in your room. The classroom rolls should already be filled out and you should have an accurate head count before the “drill.”
· As you move to the outside location be reminded to continually count your children.
· Once you have reached your designated area, gather your children in a circle, do a head count, go over your classroom rolls and make sure every child is accounted for.
· In a real emergency parents would come running for their children, this is understandable, however, all policies and procedures must be followed for check-out. This will allow us to keep all the children safe and accounted for.
· The children will watch you for your reaction, if you remain calm so will the children. Explain to them that we are leaving the building, the noise is really loud and we need to find out why the bells are ringing. (note: we will have a bell that will sound giving the volunteers and children the effect they would experience if the fire alarm had gone off)
· If you are a coordinator, you will make sure your rooms/children/volunteers are out of the building, then you will head to the designated area, you will communicate with your leaders of each room and confirm all children are accounted for. You will also be security for your rooms, if this was a true emergency, as parents come to get their children you will organizes this transition.
· Remember, we are doing this so that we are prepared in case of a real emergency. Please share your comments with us. As leaders of your rooms you see things in a different way than those who are not in there with you.
We will have a safety specialist reviewing what we are doing. He is a TrueNorth member who does this for a living; I am very excited to have him with us. I believe this will allow us to better prepare ourselves in case of a real emergency.
Thank you for your understanding and participation in this drill. It is a very important part of who we are in Journey land.
**Curriculum will be prepared for all classrooms in the event we have time left over after the drill. Clubhouse will also be done on both of the above dates. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at ninaf@truenorthchurch.com, or Daphneb@truenorthchurch.com.
*note: Columbia County will take part in a “drill” in the near future.*
We would love to hear your comments.
Thank you,
Nina Brophy-Fiedler
TNC-Journey land Director
