School Security; a necessity or health & safety gone mad?!

Security and safety in schools is a highly emotive subject and one which is never far from the conscience of the head teacher, facilities team, governing body and LEA who all have roles to play in the implementation of an effective school security strategy. Blatant and violent breaches of security have catastrophic effects (we all remember the tragedy of Dunblane; The Dunblane school massacre took place at Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Scotland, on 13 March 1996, when Thomas Hamilton shot 16 children and one teacher dead before killing himself. It remains the deadliest mass shooting in British history.), and, whether you are a parent or teaching professional, the security of any school should always remain high on the agenda.

Unfortunately, in today’s society there are people out there that are looking to damage, vandalise and destroy school property. This is why school security is so important to keep the pupils, staff and property safe. There are many dangers and safety threats children can come across every day. The highest threat is criminals breaking down or jumping fences to damage school property and even to harm students. Creating a safe place for children should be a high priority for schools. Acclaimed Security are dedicated to helping schools so that all risk factors are ruled out.

Maintaining a high standard of security requires planning and regular security checks. Parents expect that schools will have a security operation in place so that it keeps their children safe. This is why Acclaimed Security believe when it comes to school security, it's a necessity that cannot be overlooked.

Why is school security a necessity?

Schools have a basic requirement to safely contain the children in their care during school hours, keeping them protected from unwanted intruders and away from any danger within the confines of the grounds. After hours, the school also needs to “lock-down” to deter acts of vandalism, theft, concealment and even arson, according to Zurich (a major provider of insurance to schools) fires and arson attacks on schools amounted to a staggering ￡53 million in 2007. Most recently, the high cost of energy and growing demand for steel in developing countries is thought to be the catalyst behind an outbreak of steel thefts crimes, said to be costing the economy ￡360 million every year. Thieves across the county have been targeting public buildings, including schools, looking for valuable steel to scrap.

The government have published guidance to help schools understand what they should do to remove someone who is on the premises without permission:

How can we keep schools safe?

There are numerous ways of implementing security in schools which will impact instantaneously. We provide a range of school security solutions and services that deliver professional security in schools. The services that we provide include:

• Alarm Response – Our expert security team will respond to all alerts that may be set off by the alarms installed. This ensures that school staff aren't responding to potentially dangerous situations where they are unexperienced to deal with such issues.
• Access Control – Allowing anyone to access any area of the school without the need for permission will lead to criminals having unauthorised access. People could potentially get into the school without being detected by staff. Deploying a guard at the entrance is one of the best methods of discontinuing full access throughout the school (it also helps with those car park wars at the beginning and end of the day!
• Lock & Unlock– Most schools have had to forgo a caretaker and are looking for a more cost-effective way to open and close the school and site without putting other staff members at risk. Making sure a school is locked at night is highly significant to keeping the content of the school safe. Whilst we're there, we can do a patrol of the grounds to ensure it's been kept secure overnight ready for families, staff and visitors to arrive to safe grounds.
• Security Officers – Having a physical guard walking around and protecting the school will help prevent anybody attempting to get into the school.

How can having professional security benefit schools?

Having professional security in place is mainly to protect and keep the pupils, staff & visitors safe. There are many laws surrounding security for schools, meaning it is important to get it exact and precise. Many problems can arise in schools, such as:

• Throughout the day there are pupils roaming across the premises meaning there is numerous opportunities to get into the building freely. This could lead to unauthorised personnel being able to get into the building and stealing school assets.
• Pupils virtually get unrestricted access within the school allowing potential criminals to break in and cause damage to the school.
• The fact that there are valuables within the school premises makes it a tempting target for most criminals. Assets such as laptops, ipads and Smartboards are among the most valuable items.
• In recent years there has been a rise in attempted kidnappings from both primary and secondary schools within the UK.
• There is high potential to cause havoc within the school due to fire alarms, which gives the perfect distraction to steal or damage school property.

When professional security solutions are put into place, these problems are reduced drastically. Having these problems being removed altogether will help towards gaining a higher reputation for the school and safer environment for the staff, families and visitors.

There's some great tips on how to involve the pupils and local community in your school's security here:

Acclaimed Security can provide fully SIA licensed Security Officers with Enhanced DBS checks; if you value experienced, professional security solutions in your educational setting then give us a call today Leeds: 0113 213 6820 - York: 01904 565521 - Bradford: 01274 352012 - Wakefield: 01924 586052 - Huddersfield: 01484 839212 or contact us via the website: