Save the Children toolkit (2015) for participatory school disaster management designed for schools with ≥100 students and adaptable to national contexts. It is split into three parts: (I) a Handbook on roles and process, (II) templates for the School Plan, and (III) participatory activities for students and communities. The pathway follows six steps: identify hazards, reduce risks, prepare to respond (SOPs, ICS, drills), plan for continuity of education, monitor/engage/advocate, and implement during/after emergencies. It includes dozens of practical modules (calendars, risk maps, maintenance/EWS checklists, evacuation–lockdown–reunification procedures, kits, and continuity plans).
Map
Partecipatory School Disaster Management Toolkit
General information
ISIG
It guides schools to assess hazards, reduce risks, and co-design SOPs (evacuation, lockdown, reunification) with students and communities. Includes ready-to-use templates, checklists, and drills to strengthen preparedness and continuity of learning.
Schools are increasingly exposed to multi-hazard risks earthquakes, floods, fires, extreme weather, and human-made incidents that disrupt learning and endanger students and staff. Traditional, top-down emergency plans often fail to capture day-to-day realities inside school campuses or the knowledge held by teachers, students, and families.
The Participatory School Disaster Management approach addresses this gap by mobilizing the whole school community in risk assessment, preparedness planning, and resource organization. By co-designing procedures, mapping hazards on and around campuses, and rehearsing drills together, schools surface overlooked vulnerabilities and build practical capacities for prevention, response, and recovery.
Through structured collaboration with local authorities and responders, this model links formal emergency systems with classroom practice. The result is a more adaptive, informed, and resilient school environment one that safeguards continuity of education while strengthening safety culture across students, staff, and the wider community.
Status
Topics For Preparedness
Needs Addressed
Schools face growing multi-hazard risks (earthquakes, floods, fires, extreme weather, human-made incidents) that routinely disrupt learning and put students and staff at risk. Many campuses rely on fragmented, top-down emergency plans with limited student/family involvement, irregular drills, and weak links to local responders—leaving critical vulnerabilities unseen. Capacity gaps (tools, templates, SOPs) and unclear roles slow decision-making during crises, while plans rarely safeguard continuity of education for vulnerable learners. The toolkit addresses these issues by standardizing participatory risk assessment, planning, and practice so schools can prevent, respond, and recover more effectively.
- Children/adolescents with disabilities; inclusion and accessibility (mobility, vision, hearing, cognitive), languages, gender.
- Ethnic/linguistic/cultural minorities; refugees/displaced; children without parents/guardians.
- Child protection considerations (GBV, family separation, etc.).
- Inclusive WASH services (wheelchair-accessible latrines) and modules on basic health needs.
In England, school emergency planning sits in a national-to-local chain: the Department for Education sets guidance that schools must use to plan for and respond to incidents, while day-to-day delivery rests with headteachers and staff under the oversight of governing boards or academy trusts. At area level, multi-agency Local Resilience Forums created under the Civil Contingencies Act bring together Category 1 responders (police, fire, NHS, local authorities, Environment Agency) and partners, providing the risk picture, coordination and links that schools are encouraged to plug into. Recent central guidance on protective security reinforces this model: settings should align drills, communications and site security with local partners (including LRFs) while ensuring all staff understand their roles. In practice, governance is multistakeholder and decentralised national expectations, local multi-agency coordination, and school-level accountability.
In England, each school maintains an up-to-date Emergency Plan that assigns clear responsibilities to the headteacher and staff under the oversight of the governing board or academy trust. Plans set out standard procedures for evacuation, lockdown and shelter-in-place, along with key contact lists and communication templates for families and staff. Schools connect with their Local Resilience Forum to align with the area’s multi-agency risk picture and coordination arrangements under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Protective security is managed through a school-level policy and plan, with a designated security lead and practices informed by national guidance (e.g., Run–Hide–Tell, SCaN). Preparedness is reinforced through staff induction and regular refreshers, routine drills and tabletop exercises, and after-action reviews to drive continuous improvement, while continuity of education is prioritised during disruptions such as severe weather or public-health incidents.
In England, infrastructure readiness is generally developed: the national framework (UK Government Resilience Framework and Resilience Action Plan) coordinates standards and investments, while at the local level the Local Resilience Forums integrate blue-light services and authorities under the Civil Contingencies Act.
The early-warning system is mature: the Met Office runs the National Severe Weather Warning Service (alerts up to 7 days ahead for eight hazard types), and the Environment Agency issues flood alerts and warnings with public notification services.
However, territorial vulnerabilities remain especially related to flood risk (millions of homes exposed) and the ageing of part of the building stock/infrastructure which require targeted mitigation and investment priorities.
In summary: high standards, a clear governance chain, and robust warning/response capabilities, with area-specific issues that call for continuous improvement.
- Involve the whole school community (administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents, neighbors) in assessing risks, planning risk reduction, preparedness, and educational continuity.
- Build skills and provisions for emergency preparedness, response, rapid recovery, and adoption/practice of SOPs and drills.
- Ensure inclusive participation and two-way communication so diverse needs (e.g., disabilities, language, gender) are reflected in plans and activities.
- Extend learning and preparedness to families and the wider community through outreach, advocacy, and take-home activities (e.g., Family Disaster Plan).
- Maintain an ongoing, iterative planning process—monitoring progress, updating plans, and sharing responsibilities through a school safety committee.
- School Safety Committee / sub-committee (regular meetings; representation of staff, students, parents, neighbors).
- All-school assemblies (incl. “All-Day, All-School Assembly & Picnic”).
- Participatory risk assessment: Risk Matrix, Hazards Calendar, School Grounds Survey & Mapping, Community Walk/Survey/Mapping, Non-structural “Earthquake Hazard Hunt”.
- Workshops/classroom activities: mind-mapping; learning from past disasters; songs, storytelling, games.
- Early-warning & maintenance exercises using Forms (EWS Worksheet; Maintenance Checklists).
- Simulation drills (evacuation/lockdown, full simulations with “injects”); debriefs and action-plan updates.
- ICS role practice (ICS necklaces, role-play/skits; division-of-labour exercises).
- Family engagement: take-home Family Disaster Plan, role-play of family meetings, parent communications.
- Outreach & advocacy planning (Form #19) and community linkage (e.g., local disaster committee).
- Clean-up & temporary shelter planning with community participation; child-friendly spaces.
- School Safety Committee leads co-decision: a representative committee (staff, students, parents, neighbors) is tasked to develop, adapt, implement, and update the school disaster management plan; it runs drills, evaluates results, and adjusts the plan accordingly.
- Structured annual cycle: participants use planning forms to assess risks, set priorities, and link actions to the school improvement plan, with the committee meeting regularly to review and revise.
- Student voice in design: classroom activities require students to practice SOPs, debrief drills, and agree how to share proposals with the School Disaster Committee and community bodies.
- Distributed operational decisions: during incidents and exercises, staff use the Emergency Procedures Decision Treeand ICS roles (necklaces/matrix) so multiple actors can make informed, role-based decisions on the spot.
- Ongoing monitoring & outreach: participants apply the Readiness & Resilience Checklist, implement Family Disaster Plans, and co-create an Outreach & Advocacy Plan, influencing both school and wider community practice.
- Ongoing cycle & committee leadership: a representative School Safety Committee leads an annual plan do review cycle, keeps live documentation, and institutionalises safety within school-improvement processes.
- Skills, roles & drills: staff and students build response capacity via SOP training, ICS role practice (necklaces/matrix), regular evacuation/lockdown drills, debriefs, and checklists creating shared, role-based decision-making.
- Educational continuity planning: communities co-plan alternative locations, calendars, and modes of instruction; students contribute solutions (“Thinking Outside the Box”), strengthening ownership over continuity.
- Monitoring & outreach: the Readiness & Resilience Checklist, Family Disaster Plan, and an Outreach & Advocacy Plan extend capacities to households and the wider community, reinforcing two-way learning.
- Inclusion & focal points: explicit inclusion guidance (functional needs, language, gender) and a designated DRRM/CSS Focal Point with training and network links embed capabilities beyond individual staff turnover.
Hazard Type
Geographical Scope - Nuts
Geographical Scope
Population Size
Population Density
Vulnerable Groups
Governance
Emergency Preparedness
Infrastructure Readiness
Engagement Level
Empowerment Level
Implementation
- Three-part, “live” ring-binder toolkit: Handbook (roles/steps), Planning Forms, and Student & Community Activities—kept visible and updated continuously.
- Six-step end-to-end process from risk assessment and risk reduction to response, continuity of education, outreach/advocacy, and implementation during/after disasters.
- Ready-to-use planning forms incl. Hazards Calendar, Risk & Resource Maps, Early-Warning Worksheet, Maintenance Checklists, SOPs, Drill Scenarios/Checklist, Emergency Provisions, Educational Continuity Plan, Readiness & Resilience Checklist.
- Operational role systems for schools: Flexible ICS Response Team Matrix and ICS Roles “Necklaces” to enable quick, role-based decisions during drills/incidents.
- Family & community linkage: take-home Family Disaster Plan, Outreach & Advocacy Plan, and structured student–family reunification process/forms.
- Whole-school participatory events: an “All-Day, All-School Assembly & Picnic” to share findings, co-decide actions, and map hazards/resources together.
- Child protection & inclusive measures integrated into continuity and response planning (e.g., child-friendly spaces, safeguarding during reunification).
- Classroom-tested activities (risk matrix, grounds survey & mapping, SOP mastery) that turn DRR into experiential learning and feed directly into the school plan.
English
Save the children
Save the Children has extensive, long-standing experience in DRM/DRR well beyond this toolkit. Over the years, it has contributed to the development and dissemination of the Comprehensive School Safety framework (all three pillars), producing handbooks, policy briefs, and multi-country case studies, while supporting governments and schools in integrating risk reduction into curricula and everyday practice. It has implemented operational programs in diverse contexts (e.g., Asia and Latin America), supporting drills, participatory planning, and child-protection measures, and has worked on “ecosystem” initiatives in partnership with education authorities and private stakeholders. Taken together policy work, training, and field implementation this confirms a structural expertise in emergency preparedness, response, and strengthening the resilience of educational communities.
- School administration & DRRM/CSS Focal Point (leadership/coordination).
- Teaching & non-teaching staff (including facilities, maintenance, kitchen, security, health, counseling, transport).
- Students (elected reps) and Parents/PTA.
- Local disaster management committee and school neighbours/community bodies (civic associations, large businesses).
- Public safety officials / first responders (police, fire services) and local government authorities (liaison roles).
- Education officials and community/education committees; local NGOs/UN agencies where present.
- Representatives of vulnerable groups (e.g., disabilities, minority language communities) to ensure inclusivity.
- Set up governance & plan the year. Establish/empower the School Safety Committee; assign a DRRM/CSS Focal Point; make the annual calendar and collect student release contacts.
- Step 1 – Know your dangers (Assess & Plan). Run the self-assessment, hazards calendar, and neighbourhood risk/resource mapping; engage the community.
- Step 2 – Reduce your dangers. Use Early-Warning worksheet; set up regular/seasonal maintenance; draft a Risk Reduction Plan linked to school improvement.
- Step 3 – Prepare to respond. Adopt SOPs (evacuation, shelter-in-place, lockdown, reunification); organise ICS roles (matrix & “necklaces”); run drills and capture lessons; assemble emergency supplies/go-bags.
- Step 4 – Plan for educational continuity. Complete the Education Continuity Plan (alt. sites, flexible calendar, alt. modalities), clean-up & limited shelter use, child protection & psychosocial support.
- Step 5 – Monitor, reach out, advocate. Use the Readiness & Resilience Checklist; distribute Family Disaster Plans; co-create an Outreach & Advocacy Plan.
- Step 6 – Implement during/after disasters. Follow SOPs and ICS; ensure child protection and safe reunification; assess damages; activate continuity measures; provide psychosocial first aid; resume classes.
- People & roles: School Safety Committee, DRRM/CSS Focal Point, ICS structure with role cards/“necklaces.”
- Emergency supplies: admin go-box, classroom go-bag/bucket, supplies bin, first aid/AED, radios/megaphones, PPE/tools, student comfort bags.
- Documents & forms: annual calendar, student release contacts, SOPs, ICS matrices, drill scenarios/checklists, Education Continuity Plan, Family Disaster Plan, Outreach & Advocacy, reunification/damage forms.
- Spaces & logistics: assembly areas and evacuation routes, reunification gates, storage for stocks, alternative learning sites/facilities (with WASH).
- Training & exercises: training on SOPs/ICS/psychological first aid, regular drills with debriefs and plan updates.
- Maintenance & early warning: EWS Worksheet, maintenance checklists, protection of equipment/materials.
- Start of school year (setup): establish/strengthen the School Safety Committee, appoint the DRRM/CSS Focal Point, complete the Calendar of Activities and Student Emergency Release Contacts
- Phase 1 – Knowing Our Dangers (assess & plan): CSS self-assessment, Hazards Calendar (seasonal/annual), risk–resource mapping and initial planning. Activities begin early in the year and are reviewed annually.
- Phase 2 – Reducing Our Dangers (ongoing mitigation): early-warning worksheet, maintenance checklists(regular/seasonal) and Risk Reduction Plan; recurring activities throughout the year.
- Phase 3 – Preparing to Respond (training & supplies): adopt SOPs , organise ICS drill scenarios + drill checklist and stock Emergency Provisions periodic drills with debriefs and plan updates.
- Phase 4 – Educational Continuity (pre-incident): complete the Education Continuity Plan: alternate sites, flexible calendar, alternative modalities, clean-up, limited shelter use, TLF); update when conditions/facilities change.
- Phase 5 – Monitoring, Reaching Out & Advocating (annual cycle): use the Readiness & Resilience Checklist once a year; distribute the Family Disaster Plan; draft and maintain the Outreach & Advocacy Plan
- Phase 6 – Implementing Our Plan (during/after): apply SOPs/ICS, reunification, Rapid Damage Assessment activate the Continuity Plan, provide psychosocial support and resume classes.
Experience of the Implementing Organisation in DRM
Target Audience
Resources Required
Timeframe & Phases
Participation Results
- Low or uneven engagement → Create a representative School Safety Committee and run all-school assemblies to co-decide actions.
- Role confusion in emergencies → Standardise SOPs and use ICS matrices/“necklaces” for clear, rapid role-based decisions.
- Poor risk awareness/data → Do Hazards Calendar and school/community risk-resource mapping to surface seasonal/local threats.
- Infrequent drills & weak learning loops → Use drill scenarios/checklists, hold debriefs, and update the plan after each exercise.
- Inclusion barriers (disability, language, gender) → Apply inclusion guidance; ensure accessible WASH; use Family Disaster Plans to extend preparedness at home.
- Communication & reunification chaos → Pre-define reunification gates/process and use dedicated forms and contact lists.
- Instruction disrupted by disasters → Prepare an Education Continuity Plan (alternate sites/modalities, temporary learning facilities).
- Neglected maintenance & EWS → Schedule maintenance checklists and fill the Early-Warning Systems Worksheet.
- Weak links to external responders → Connect with local disaster committees/public safety officials for coordination and support.
- Limited resources → Phase procurement via emergency supplies lists and mobilise community through Outreach & Advocacy Plan.
- Multi-hazard assessment & priorities: Hazards Calendar, risk/resource maps, and a risk-reduction plan linked to school improvement.
- Procedures & roles: SOPs (evacuation, lockdown, shelter, reunification) + ICS structure with “necklaces” for rapid, role-based decisions.
- Routes & reunification: predefined egress routes, safe assembly areas, and Request/Reunion gates.
- Minimum supplies: admin go-box, classroom go-bag/bucket, supplies bin, first aid/AED, radios/megaphones/PPE.
- Exercises & improvement: drills with scenarios/checklists, debriefs, and an annual Readiness & Resilience review.
- Continuity & inclusion: Education Continuity Plan (alternate sites/modalities) and accessibility/protection measures.
Risk & Mitigation Plan
Scalability and Sustainability
The solution is sustained over time by integrating it into routine school management: a School Safety Committee with a DRRM/CSS Focal Point leads an annual “plan–do–review” cycle, keeps the plan live, and links it to the school improvement plan. Operational sustainability is ensured through reusable forms and checklists (Calendar of Activities, Readiness & Resilience Checklist, Outreach & Advocacy Plan) and regular drills with debriefs for continuous improvement. On the financial/logistical side, the toolkit emphasises low-cost, incremental resources (go-box, classroom go-bag/bucket, supplies bin) with phased procurement and engagement of families/PTA and the community (e.g., comfort bags, blankets). Long-term resilience is reinforced by education continuity plans (alternative sites/modalities, TLF) and by links with local committees/authorities for mutual support and coordination.
- Adaptable template: designed to be tailored to national/sub-national contexts; base version for schools with ≥100 students, with simplifications for smaller settings.
- “Live,” modular format: three ring-binder parts (Handbook, Forms, Activities) that can be updated over time, enabling gradual scale-up.
- Replicable 6-step process: from risk assessment to educational continuity, with standard forms that ease adoption across diverse schools.
- Inclusion as an adaptation lever: checklists for accessibility, language, and gender to tune procedures to local needs.
- Flexible continuity: options for alternate sites, flexible calendars, and alternative learning modalities, useful across urban/rural contexts and different hazards.
- Scalable community engagement: whole-school assemblies and community mapping to integrate local actors and adapt priorities.
- Low-tech and procedural, not advanced ICT.
- Communications & warning: Early Warning Systems worksheet; use of SMS, walkie-talkies, radios, and PA/loudspeakers to link school–emergency services–district.
- Essential equipment: generators, megaphones, battery radios, flashlights, and role-identification items (vests/“necklaces”).
- Organisational innovations (more than technological): emergency Decision Tree, ICS with “necklaces,” and drills with scripted injects that simulate real-time information.
Information not available
- Co-design beats top-down plans: a representative School Safety Committee sustains engagement and ownership over time.
- Practice makes procedures usable: regular drills with scenarios + post-drill debriefs turn SOPs into automatic, role-based actions.
- Map risks with the community: hazards calendars and school/community mapping reveal seasonal/local vulnerabilities otherwise missed.
- Plan continuity before a crisis: predefined alternate sites/modes and a written Education Continuity Plan speed recovery.
- Prepare reunification logistics: clear gates, forms and contact chains reduce chaos and safeguard children.
- Inclusion is capability: integrating accessibility, language and protection needs
- Keep it “live”: an annual plan–do–review cycle with checklists maintains momentum and improves the plan each year.