Security in School

[FallenAngel22]

After getting an email from school saying they were tightening up their security it struck me that up to now it's been a fairly trusting place. It's a junior school so most kids go in by themselves. I sometimes help my yr3 dd with her giant sports bag but usually she manages. However the rule is to now sign in a reception and get a visitor badge if you want to help your child into school with their things. They have also stopped parents speaking to teachers for a word in the mornings. A request for an appointment now has to be made via the school office. Again I totally get why there is the need for this but if you just wanted to let the teacher know something reasonably trivial it's going to irrelevant by the time they get the message!

How approachable are your teachers and school generally?

Extremely approachable, but via systems that you describe above. Getting Safeguarding write isn't something that's optional for schools. Not quite sure why a child would need a bag bigger than they can manage unless they were off on a week's residential . Also think it's good the day starts efficiently and the staff aren't being called over for a chat by several parents. If there's something that can't wait, and the child can't be trusted to pass on, then put it in a quick note for the child to give the teacher. Generally if you ask at the end of the day, they will come out and see you then, obviously unless they are running a club or already meeting someone else, I suspect the 'make an appointment' will fall into that sort of a category.

From yr1 onwards the kids line up and go in when the bell rings (unless the weather is poor).

You can speak to the teacher but you won't get their full attention as they are standing at the head of the line of their class and are trying to make sure little Jonny is not killing Jane etc. but usually you can get the teachers attention to ask for a meeting after school.

Reception is different and you can take your child to the classroom door and chat to the teacher if you need to.

All year groups line up and go in by themselves - including reception, though their classroom is a separate building and opens directly onto the playground. Anyone going past the security doors has to sign in and gets given a visitor sticker. Both the main building and the reception building have numerical entry pads. There is a member of staff (sometimes several) in the playground in the morning who you can have a quick word with, if the member of staff you need to see isn't available then a message can be passed on from the school office. It's a small school (around 110 kids) so not huge numbers of parents with messages normally.

DD is at high school, but an intruder got in the other week. He was a youth - late teens/early 20s and he was looking for a 15 year old boy with a view to physical violence. He had been spotted on CCTV and been challenged by a couple of teachers. He was easy to spot as he was wearing a hoodie and the school has a strict uniform policy.

DD had told me about it at the time and I told her it was a silly rumour, but it was front page news in the local paper the following weekend.

It certainly made the school rethink its security systems.

My own DS's reception class - buzzed into the foundation unit and children dropped off at class door where TA and/or teacher available for chat.

My own reception class - class doors one directly onto waiting parents/children. Children come in and anyone who wants to have a chat can have a chat with me - has to be quick though. If it is involved, then an appointment is made.

Parents drop at door and can have a chat with teachers - parents do not go in except in EYFS and KS1.
The problem with this is that staff have to patrol corridors/cloakrooms and toilets to check that parents aren't in there and have stayed in the classrooms.
Ime, parents may get to pass on a very quick message - if they can ever get to the front of the queue, but an appointment would be far the better way to go to have a proper conversation.
I work at the same school as my DCs. Often I have to pass a note to the office to pass to their teachers as I can't get to see the teacher in the morning - and it's often info that the teacher needs at the start of the day.

all the classrooms open on to the playground, TAs are at the door in the morning, you can let them know any issues. teachers come out of classrooms with kids in afternoons, you can talk to them.

Often easier to email a teacher direct with a quick thing. I find it so much easier than being interrupted by parents at what is usually a busy time!

Why has your child got such a massive sports bag? How is there room in the cloakroom for it? Sports bag or not, Year 3 children do NOT need parents to "help them" into the classroom. They should be independent in that respect long before this.

And yes, safeguarding children in schools in the way you describe is the norm now, and Ofsted get very shirty if they come in to inspect and find any lapses.

All parents can come in to our school building in the morning. It's been that way since at least 2003 and never criticised by Ofsted. I think some parents linger too long but I would be gutted if I couldn't go in with dd3 tbh (she is yr 1)

I meant Ofsted are hot on things like gates being left open/unlocked, entry phones, lack of identity badges. Office staff (and in some cases children) are encouraged to challenge people they don't recognise on the premises.

"I would be gutted if I couldn't go in with dd3" Seriously? Why?

Parents can go in with reception children (who are off to one side, so parent doesn't enter main school) and in the first few days of new school year.

After that, you sign in for any visit. You can also email teachers (new step) which is easily the best way of getting a message to the right person quickly. Though I can see that's not the whole solution, as families without email are concentrated amongst the poorest and putting barriers to their communication with schools isn't likely to be helpful for the child.

we are not allowed into the school playground or into the main part of the school building so children are dropped off at the gates (the only exception is in the first week of primary 1 when the new starters can be taken round to where their school line will be). If we want to speak to a teacher we have to speak to the ladies at the school office to arrange it or send a note in with your child as we dont see the teachers otherwise.

The P1 and 2 children are released at the end of the day from the doors near the office but the rest of the children come out of the main silver gates instead. If there is no adult there for them they have to go to the office until someone comes to collect them.

Kids line up in playground and go in with their teacher. Parents not allowed in school building but teachers are in the playground at the beginning and end of day so you can grab them for a quick chat.
I think parents in the class would be very disruptive...best to get the goodbyes over with in the playground.

Dd is in y5 her school welcomes parents, aunties, grandparents into school. The first ten minutes are for settling children in school and chatting with staff, the twenty minutes before that children and adults are welcome to sit with their children and read in the library.
Classes open onto the playground so parents can chat at the end of the day as the teacher lets the children out too.
HT is on the playground morning and afternoon too (usually surrounded by children chatting) There doesn't appear to be any problems by having such a open door policy if anything parents appear to appreciate it and it seems to foster good open relationships between school and home.
Of course once the playground gates are locked in a morning entry is only through reception which has standard security measures.
OFSTED seem happy as it said that children are exceptionally safe in school anyway.

I love that sounds kind of dangerous, over here the teachers dont even let the kids go if there is someone they dont recognise picking them up, at your school they dont even check?

For P1 and P2 they are seen to go to an adult but from P3 onwards they make their own way to the main gates to get collected.

My own DC's school allows parents into the classrooms in the mornings, then has to train the parents to back off in year 5. It delays the start of the day something chronic as certain parents always hang around, fuss and flap, and generally get in the way with younger siblings and pushchairs in the cloakrooms.

Where I teach, then chn line up in the playground. Teachers are out there 5 mins before the bell is rung so any parent can catch us then. We are also very happy to receive written notes, or messages via the school office, or to make an appointment to meet before or after school.