Students killed on a school trip is surely every parent and teacher’s worst nightmare.
Fortunately the press conference about a fatal coach crash involving Luton Sixth Form College students was only pretend, as staff and governors took part in an emergency response training day.
The Luton News was invited to give the conference authenticity, and help staff practise their major incident and emergency response.
College principal Chris Nicholls said: “It’s something you hope would never happen, and for most leaders in education never does, but everybody recognises that if something did happen you’d be pushed well outside any experience you’d ever had before and you’d be far better off with training so you’re prepared.”
Mr Nicholls said the increase in social media use in recent years, with stories spreading quickly made it increasingly important to learn how to deal with the media.
He said: “This training will give staff a flavour of what it would be like and make it more realistic.
“Doing the press conference was interesting. Everybody felt drawn in and there was a real sense of realism about it, which is fascinating to see how easily you can create that.”