If intruders gain access to your school, how are you going to respond? Read our school security document.
Schools and colleges are among the most important institutions in the country. It is no exaggeration to say that they represent the future of society in all its many faceted complexity. However, unlike other national institutions that enjoy very high levels of security and protection, the education sector has been somewhat overlooked.
In part this is because schools and colleges still operate in a world of comparative innocence.
Teachers are focussed, not surprisingly, on teaching and the ever-present need to do well in the league
tables. Parents are often complacent about security, assuming that the school will have everything in place. Central and local government will be aware of aggregate societal trends, but are usually unwilling to draw attention to an area where the finger of blame may be pointed in their direction. Certainly central and local government is not keen on stimulating demands for spending on security in schools. Nevertheless, schools are faced with a broad range of security threats plus the additional constraint of balancing the protection of students and teachers with maintaining a welcoming environment that encourages learning.
Just as important as high-quality teaching and excellent facilities, physical security is an underappreciated issue. It is often assumed by parents to be under control. Issues of happiness and wellbeing rightly figure large for parents in their choice of schools, but security is seldom a concern.
School safety and security must be seen against wider changes in society, particularly the rising levels
of serious violence among young people. Violence in the classroom was once seen as comparatively
rare, but has now become commonplace. Figures produced by the Office for National Statistics and other
agencies show that violence involving weapons is on the increase among young people, and inevitably this means greater problems for schools.¹
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