Ensure your school is in compliance with Martyn’s Law
Navigating new statutory requirements is a core part of running a school, and crumbs, do the DfE and other Government bodies throw them out there. From KCSIE and its consultations, to white papers, curriculum and assessment reviews, filtering and monitoring standards – you name it; they have a document for it.
One of the latest to land on your desk is the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, commonly known as Martyn’s Law. Its aim is to ensure the public is better protected from terrorism when in certain public buildings by requiring their leaders to be prepared and ready with measures to keep people safe.
For education settings, the first practical question is whether the site falls within ‘scope’. If it is reasonable to expect 200 or more people (including staff and learners) to be present at the same time, then the setting is ‘in scope’. Early years, primary, secondary and further education settings that meet that threshold most likely sit within the ‘standard tier’, even where larger numbers may be present. This is important, because compliance is not about making school security more complicated, but more about having simple, proportionate procedures that work when they are needed.
What do you need to do?
In simple terms, you need to know whether your setting is in scope. If it is, you will need to understand your standard tier duties; notify the Security Industry Authority (SIA) that you are responsible for your school premises, once the duty comes into force in early spring 2027; and put workable public protection procedures in place for evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication.
Shifting from static procedures to dynamic response
While compliance here differs from what you may think of as necessary with a traditional fire drill (a static procedure). It is entirely different because it requires a multi-faceted approach. Public protection under the new ‘Martyn’s law’ legislation requires flexibility. This means you have to manage four distinct potential responses:
- evacuation (getting everyone out)
- invacuation (getting everyone in)
- lockdown
- communication.
When a threat happens, the situation is going to be unpredictable and will likely be fast-moving. Therefore, a uniform, ‘catch-all’ alarm is counter-productive because the correct response depends on the nature and location of the danger. An external hazard near the school fence requires bringing pupils indoors via a rapid invacuation, whereas an internal threat requires an immediate classroom lockdown or a targeted evacuation away from the problem area.
The priority is in ensuring that your communications can be instantly broadcast and shared, and more importantly, understood, given the varied natures of the issues you face. Ultimately, you need to be able to give staff immediate clarity on exactly what they need to do, how, when, where and why.
Blindspots in the classroom
When auditing current emergency readiness, you could assume that because you have existing internal communication systems such as email, they are sufficient to fulfil the statutory communication requirements. However, relying on standard staff email accounts (or, if you have them, internal chat channels such as on Teams) overlooks the reality of a live classroom.
During a lesson, a teacher is rarely sitting at their desk monitoring their inbox or checking their messages. They are actively managing learning in the room, supporting pupils, and projecting a full-screen PowerPoint slide or interactive learning resource onto the main display. Personal mobile devices are typically stored away, and desktop applications are minimised to prevent instructional distractions. An urgent security alert sent via email will sit entirely unnoticed until the lesson ends (if a teacher is lucky enough to have the time to check emails between lessons), which means if that’s your plan, it’s not likely to succeed in a time-sensitive crisis.
Readiness under pressure 
Staff readiness under immense stress represents another challenge. Emergency protocols cannot rely on staff recalling complex software navigation or menus to click on and through. If a colleague occasionally struggles to remember a software function during a routine activity, expecting them to successfully remember the required sequence in technical software they haven’t used in two months, during a live lockdown, is a recipe for failure.
The technology deployed should be easy to use under pressure. A dedicated mass notification platform, such as NetSupport Notify, achieves this by centralising control. When an emergency broadcast is sent, it does not wait for a user to do anything. It actively forces its way over any active display, taking full-screen focus instantly, accompanied by a clear audio alert. The teacher is not required to navigate anything; they simply read the direct, explicit instruction and focus on doing what needs to be done.
What about accountability and record keeping?
The final thing to consider with compliance involves accountability and your need to maintain accurate logs. The SIA requires evidence that a school has established procedures and tested they work, meaning that casual messaging won’t cut it.
NetSupport Notify creates a clear digital trail. The system logs the exact second a broadcast is delivered to each device and tracks the precise moment it’s acknowledged. This automated reporting removes the burden of compiling this by providing the data required to verify compliance.
A proven blueprint
Mass notification and lockdown procedures have been embedded in schools for decades. For the majority of schools and trusts, NetSupport Notify has been their first choice for a reason – and we have more than 2 million users who rely upon it daily across thousands of individual schools and trusts.
By implementing a mass notification system that is already tried, tested and trusted on this scale, you can deploy your public protection procedures with confidence, ensure compliance and, most importantly, help keep your young people safe.
Learn more about NetSupport Notify, get a 30-day free trial and speak to our sales team today.