School Lockdown Alert: Further School Lockdowns In November
Several schools across the UK have been forced to go into lockdown this month following incidents with intruders
One of the major causes of schools enacting lockdown is unauthorised members of the public on school grounds. Over the last few weeks, there have been several instances of people trying to gain access to, or intruders already on, school premises.
Due to the fact that the intentions of intruders are unknown, it is critical that schools have a procedure in place to instantly communicate a lockdown situation so that staff and students remain in safe and secured predefined areas, such as classrooms.
Stuart Bathurst Catholic High School and Sixth Form, in Wednesbury, had to go into lockdown twice on 21st November after sightings of three intruders on school grounds. This followed a police incident where a vehicle with cloned plates was pursed by traffic officers. After it stopped on a nearby road, people fled from the car and gained access to the school premises.
The school released a statement saying “In order to keep our students safe at all times Stuart Bathurst Catholic High School had to initiate two lockdown procedures. This followed reports of an intruder on site. The intruder had entered our site following a police incident in the local area and immediately left site.
“Police were informed and attended quickly. The school initiated a lock down procedure as police informed us at this stage that there may be a second intruder on site. The second intruder was apprehended by police immediately as she had been contained within our double layered security fencing. She had not gained full access to the school at any stage. We were given the all clear by policed and members of staff checked the area thoroughly to ensure there was no additional risks.
“The second lockdown was initiated when there was a third intruder spotted on the roof of one of our buildings. Police once again attended site but the intruder had already left. At no stage were any of our young people put at risk and the school believes that this particular incident was not directed at students or staff.”
In Benfleet, Seevic College also had to go into lockdown on the same day when four men attempted to gain access to the grounds. Although initial reports suggested the group were armed with knives, this later proved false.
The college issued the following statement: “Yesterday afternoon, four people who are not students at USP College attempted to gain access to our Seevic Campus but were quickly challenged and removed by staff. The safety of our students and staff is our absolute priority, and as a precaution, we temporarily suspended entry to and exit from the College buildings. The College has rigorous policies and procedures in place, and all staff are trained and take accountability in ensuring the College is a safe, secure and welcoming place to study and work.
“The speed at which the trespassers were identified and removed from the campus demonstrates the effectiveness of these measures, and we would like to thank our staff and students for their continued commitment to student safety and wellbeing. Our investigations have shown that no weapons or violence were involved.”
Bodet’s Harmonys System can function as a standalone Lockdown Alert System or as part of a larger solution which also includes Class Change. As well as enabling you to broadcast unique emergency alerts, such as lockdown, this additional functionality improves your class change procedures by giving you a choice of synchronised audible alerts sent to customisable zones, improving student punctuality and behaviour. Harmonys can also include synchronised clocks, PA functionality and music streaming.
We would be happy to visit your school for a free site survey to ensure coverage of our Lockdown Alert System across your whole premises. To arrange this, please contact us.
