The issues surrounding school security have been understood for years yet the process of securing schools and other education premises has only become more complex as time has passed.
For example, schools are increasingly likely to have a range of different visitors throughout all hours of the day. Furthermore, there are more and more reasons that students need to stay late or leave the premises during the day and managing these issues as well as the risks of crime and vandalism can be a monumental task.
With that in mind, how can schools help to improve their security? And what measures need to be taken to ensure the safety of staff, students, and the premises itself?
Secure your perimeter
A secure perimeter is essential to the safety and security of any premises. With regards to schools, colleges, and universities, they should all have clear boundaries secured by fences and effective security gates.
If security gates are not currently in place, then this should take priority as ensuring safe access to the premises is essential. If security gates are in place at your education premises then you may want to consider upgrading them to electric security gates, especially if they haven’t been replaced in a number of years.
If you are concerned as to the impact this will have on pedestrian access there is always the option of adding a smaller, pedestrian access gate to the side of the main security gate designed for vehicular access.
Manage your parking
With parents, staff, and visitors all using the same car parking areas – especially in smaller school premises – can often mean that school car parks become overwhelmed with vehicular traffic making them less efficient and more dangerous to pedestrians.
In order to effectively control and manage the flow of traffic in and out of your car park you may want to consider the implementation of automatic security barriers as these are ideal for managing the flow of traffic, securing the car park out of hours, and making the car park safer for pedestrian traffic.
The additional benefit of our range of automatic security barriers is that they can be fitted with a range of optional accessories such as intercom systems and key cards which are ideal for managing staff and visitors at schools and other education premises.
Upgrade your visitor sign-in procedure
Traditionally, the visitor sign-in procedure has been mainly a fire-safety measure. At present, however, it plays an essential role in determining who could have come into contact with whom and hence who might need to self-isolate even as we begin to ease restrictions over the next few months.
Now is, therefore, a very good time to upgrade to a digital visitor-registration system. When the pandemic is over, your school can still benefit from a hassle-free sign-in system and effective reporting.
Ultimately it is a combination of a variety of different measures that help keep schools and other education premises safe and secure. However, it is essential that you, at the very least, ensure you have effective perimeter security measures in place – such as security barriers or gates – as these are the first line of defence against would be criminals.
If you require any additional information regarding any of our school access control security solutions, please contact the team at Newgate today on 01636 700172 or email websales@newgate.uk.com
