Both the Department for Education and Ofsted encourage schools to have a plan in place that encompasses safeguarding and security as part of best practice. Guidelines suggest that schools should demonstrate reasonable steps to ensure pupils and staff are safe on the school site. In recent news, the NASUWT said schools currently had ad hoc drills to deal with various threats and called on the government to put together a comprehensive plan.
The majority of schools already have features such as CCTV, fire alarms and tools to monitor visitors or volunteers around the site – as standard. However, many schools are now introducing a lockdown procedure to boost their safety measures, especially in areas where the school feels it is at high risk of a scenario where a lockdown would be necessary.
Typical scenarios may include an intruder on the site (with the potential to pose a risk to staff and pupils); the close proximity of a dangerous dog roaming loose; or a reported incident / civil disturbance in the local community which may affect the school.
In these situations, schools are introducing new policies that include locking all external doors and windows as necessary, bringing pupils from outside into the school buildings as quickly as possible – and alerting staff to the activation of the lockdown. Huddersfield’s Reinwood Junior School is one of several in West Yorkshire which carries out lockdown drills, with pupils and staff practising twice a year.
Guidance from the Government and local authorities suggests that staff should keep agreed lines of communication open, but not make unnecessary calls to the central office, as this could delay more important communications. Instead, access to an internal e-mail system would help staff to receive information and await further instruction.
Desktop messaging tools such as NetSupport Notify help schools to send instant one-way messages to all or selected desktop users that can’t be skipped, ignored or saved for later. Cotham School is one such example of where Notify plays an essential part in their emergency plans. Its IT Services Manager explains: “NetSupport Notify is only installed on staff PCs, and it means that it’s quick and easy to issue an alert that everyone can see at the same time – for instance, if there’s a lockdown or an internet failure. If the internet does go down and we’re unable to email out, then we’re still able to get a message to our colleagues. It saves the influx of helpdesk issues we’d otherwise receive and is an important tool in our Emergency Plan!”
To read the full case study, please visit https://www.netsupportsoftware.com/20170419cotham-secondary-school/
Or, to learn more about how to set up a lockdown procedure, see: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/478003/NaCTSO_Guidance_Note_1_-_2015_-_Dynamic_Lockdown_v1_0.pdf