School security - question for teachers/school staff

[TangoCharlieWhiskey]

Hi all,

I've not been on for a while so hi!

I seem to remember that there was guidance that all staff should wear ID when on school premises for safeguarding/security reasons... I think it was brought in at the same time as making sites secure with regard to whom can enter etc...

I would like to have something to refer to when writing to our school, as the head hasn't worn any form of ID since they joined the school, but I'm struggling to find anything.

Thanks all

I bloody hate having to wear my lanyard with my id on it. If I bend over to talk to a pupil about their work it whacks the kid on the head if I don't catch it first.
One of our staff wears it backwards across her throat which is not comfortable.
I have clips and wear it on my waistband instead, often tucked into my pocket if I can so it doesn't catch on anything.

I did wonder if it is something that we've been directed or recommended to do or whether it's just another 'well x school is doing it and it looked good' thing.

We have magnetic name badges but to be honest most of the time people forget to wear them or accidentally washed them so have to wait for replacements lol!
Didn’t think it was a law to have them to be honest, otherwise our school would be more on it if we forgot.
We have a display with a photo of all the staff and their names in the entrance too :)

We don't have it where I work but we do have a culture where people who we don't recognise will be challenged. I've stopped a visitor without a badge before now, it turned out to be the new school improvement partner

but we do have a culture where people who we don't recognise will be challenged

Surely that is the most important thing?

OP It seems a slightly unusual thing to be so concerned about you want to write to the school about it. Do you have a particular reason for your concern? If you are worried about e.g. child abduction in a DV case, then I think you need a clearer example, eg random adult being able to get in without buzzing in/ signing in/ badge / being challenged. Not the HT!

As a connected aside (sorry OP) - what checks (if any) are done to ensure children's safety when building work is being done in a school. Our primary has just been completely rewired and much of the work has been done during the school day, meaning countless tradespeople have been wandering around the school. I wonder if risk assessments are carried out?

Don't think it's a law or anything..... it's good practice and in our school we also challenge any unfamiliar faces in the corridor. Often it's someone like a local governor from another school etc then waves their visitor pass around and you feel embarrassed. Better safe than sorry though.

We use a familiar company and their staff have checks first. An email is sent round to say X company are working on X in this part of the school and photos of the people are attached.

Nothing like that here in Ireland but parents don’t walk into schools (well in my school) they have to be buzzed in by the secretary

In our MAT we all wear lanyards with the name of the school (they have our 'beepers' on for getting in and out of security doors). All visitors (even visitors from within the MAT, but outside the particular school) wear visitor badges or lanyards.

We prefer lanyards to badges as you are less likely to clout a child with a lanyard! Everyone (even cleaners) have their photos on the board in the reception area so children and adults know who we are.

All contractors have DBS that we have checked and keep details on our Single Central Record. We only employ contractors with DBS and willing to give us the details (we once had a school nurse refuse to give her DBS number, she is no longer allowed to come to schools that are a part of the MAT, which I know has caused some issues within her NHS Trust). One-time visitors to particular classes/children/teachers are escorted at all times, other well known visitors (reading volunteers etc) are kept to 'public' areas where they can be seen at all times by the CCTV.

@herland yes a risk assessment will have been done by the school/company (company may have a generic one) and all workers will be DBS checked to be in a school. No likelihood at all that any tradesperson would ever be alone with any children.

Surely you know what the head teacher of your child's school looks like? Why do you need him/her to wear ID?

Thanks for that. Very good to know.

I've not give all the details of why I was querying this in my original post, but NO I didn't know the head teacher.

This is because there is no photo of them on the school website & no photo was sent round to parents when they joined the school in October. Equally in the subsequent six months has been no assembly introducing the the new head.... so actually I had no way of knowing who this adult was wondering around the school grounds and entering the building unchallenged.

Having worked in a school myself where we were told we should have lanyards on at all times and challenge any unrecognised adult I did wonder if this was just good practice or OFSTED assessed etc... as I personally feel parents should be able to identify school staff. The school has had quite a turn over in the last 18 months and there are probably six adults wondering around whom I can't identify and staff, contractors of just parents!

Ours has a bit of a graded system with it all - staff get a lanyard with nice school logoed cord it hangs on... governors get a lanyard with a cheapo cord that says governor on it... visitors get a sign in pass into a plastic lanyard and a generic cord that says visitor... parents visiting to help in classes get a sticker - that doesn't bloody stay stuck on. Kind of limits the challenging unknown people when your visitor sticker's migrated to the sole of your shoe within 2 seconds of getting in the building (everyone tends to know me anyway)!

Also the photoboard of all the staff from the head to the cleaners - all photographs recently redone (the head got hers re-taken about 10 times to get one she liked)... and the noticeboard of utter embarrassment where they've finally updated the mugshots of the governors too (I'm a governor and hate getting my photo taken and I'd dodged this one for a good month or so till the office staff caught up with me). I keep trying to encourage them to put a display board or bookcase to hide my spot on the board because my photo is hideous - but no one's buying it - even my plan that the PTA could put their fundraising thermometer right in front of it was thwarted.

There's usually some form of lanyard or ID sticker system in place in every school I've been in - I supply teach so I go in a lot. Most of the school entry codes seem to be set to the last time the local football team won a trophy though - that one's pretty universal as a security faux pas.

It's not set in stone by Ofsted that staff have to wear ID (visitors is a different kettle of fish for obvious reasons) but it's something that most schools choose to do a version of that suits the character of their school. We all have lanyards-big secondary so not everybody knows everybody else- but being science mine is often in my pocket or similar during lessons so I don't set fire to it.
How come you are spending so much time in the building that you can catalogue who is known and unknown, but you can't identify the head despite being there so often? Is there more to this than a simple concern?

I think its probably the disappointment that the school don't think parents need to 'know' who the staff (and particularly the head) are. The school does have appalling communication & this is just an example of it.
I've not 'in" the building but my son's collection point is near a rear access and I've been watching many 'new faces' going in that I simply do not recognise. Of course I've worked out who the head is, and when she started talking to my son a few weeks ago I though who is this weirdo & my son explained after she'd left who she was. But it feels like it should be more organised than that... he still can't tell me who many of the other 'new faces' are.... and in such a small village school that just doesn't seem right, for security or communication in general....

You'd hate our school. We have something called "soft start" where parents/grandparents/carers are invited to walk in every morning and see what their P1, P2 or P3 kids are up to. That's from ages 4 to 8. We don't sign in. We don't have ID. The school does have security doors but as it's a small village school, only strangers are challenged. (Not that you actually see any strangers)

Probably the best solution there then if it's a small school is to suggest the next newsletter (I assume they do one but when you say comms are poor maybe they don't!) introduces the newer staff with a pic and a line or two about them. It's a nice thing to do anyway and you shouldn't be having to drive it but it might help.
Trouble is if you just stick a lanyard on someone you'll know they're meant to be there, which is the main thing I guess, but unless you're standing in front of them to read it you'll still be none the wiser about what they do, and like you say in a small school you probably should have a rough idea who does what even if you don't know their exact name and job title.

That is pretty poor communication from the school.
I agree with Heyha that info in a newsletter is the way to go really, rather than complaining re lack of lanyard.

Do you know any of the parent governors? A word in their ear re lack of communication could be helpful, perhaps?

It's not the law. However, schools will have it in a policy somewhere, likely safeguarding or child protection policy, which will be available to read on their website.

Thanks everyone. Good to know that its best practice to wear ID but not enforced in any way.

Don't get me started on newsletters etc. I've been harping on about that to staff & governors for 7 years... No sign of improvement :-(

I did speak directly with the head this morning when she said hello to me in the playground... I explained I didn't know who she was. Her excuse for not having a lanyard? Her photo hadn't arrived (its 7 months since she joined)...

thanks for all your suggestions/advise.

"Hello there, you must be XX's mum? I'm Mrs HT, the head teacher. Pleased to meet you" isn't enough?

I can understand your need to know who the HT is but as for “the other new faces”it’s not really a big deal Is it?? If you don’t need to converse with them then who cares? I don’t know EVERY teacher in my DD’s school. I say that as a teacher and a parent btw.

Most of the school entry codes seem to be set to the last time the local football team won a trophy though - that one's pretty universal as a security faux pas.

That's not one I've ever seen used. Also, at the schools where I have taught supply teachers don't get given the entry code even if they are there for six months.

We all wear our ID badges on landyards. A complete pain in the arse in the water tray.
Because I'm nursery staff and rarely see most of the school staff, 3 people asked who I was in the resource room today despite wearing my lanyard. Fortunately the DHT was in the room and answered for me.

We're currently having major building works with part of the school closed off and the pupils having been moved in to portakabins. So the contractors are not near the children atm. When it moves to the other part, I'm not sure how it will work. But children don't tend to be near the current work due to things being out of bounds.