Safeguarding at school

Revision as of 14:02, 17 June 2020

The COVID-19 has disrupted a variety of business sectors and industries, perhaps none more so than the education sector, which has suffered greatly due to the lack of social distancing that can be applied.

Up until recently the government guidelines regarding schools and education was very clear, in that only the children of key workers and vulnerable children could attend childcare settings.

However, as the UK lockdown begins to ease ad rules about social distancing are becoming more relaxed, the government has set out new guidelines as to which children can attend schools.

According to the official government website; from the first of June children who attend nursery have been allowed to attend. Primary schools are also allowed to welcome back children in key transition years including those in nursery, reception, year one and year six.

As of the 15th June, secondary schools and colleges have been able to welcome back pupils from year ten and year 12 as well as post sixteen learners, in year one of their course, for face to face support from teachers to support their remote learning activities.

With that in mind it is important to ensure that schools will be able to keep your children safe not only from COVID-19 but also from a security point of view.

How will schools adapt to COVID-19?

There are currently no definitive government guidelines on how schools should take precautions post COVID-19 and each school is likely going to have their own health and safety systems in place.

However the government does suggest the following precautionary measures:

• Carrying out a full risk assessment before opening to a vast amount of children and young people
• Ensuring that children or young people do not attend should they or their family experience any symptoms of COVID-19
• Promoting regular hand washing and other hygiene methods and ensuring that these are carried out correctly
• Introducing more frequent cleaning and sanitisation systems on surfaces, door handles and any play equipment/toys
• Minimising contact through smaller class sizes

Other systems that schools could implement are staggered drop off and collection times to minimise large congregations of people, breaking up groups of children during break times and a social distancing rule within hallways.

How will student be kept safe once they are back at school?

As a parent there is always the worry that something will happen to their child and ensuring that children are kept safe whilst in an educational environment should be the number one priority.

With children returning back to school their overarching safety has become a concern and it is essential that schools can reassure parent that they have the sufficient systems in place to protect and monitor their children.

Traditional security methods such as CCTV, Alarms and security fencing are widely used in schools already and can do an excellent job of protecting and monitoring the children whilst they are on the premises.

However, there is often the concern that schools are not doing enough and that more could be done to ensure that school children are kept safe whilst on the premises. The addition of additional security gates can increase this security, help restrict unauthorised access and open up the school to prevent a feeling of claustrophobia which can often be a problem.

Alternatively, there are also other access control options, such as barriers, for car parks and other restricted areas that can help put a parent mind at ease and allow you to control the flow of traffic and people in and out of your establishment.

--Newgate 15:02, 17 Jun 2020 (BST)