Paxton’s Net2 Access Control Helps Barming School Meet OFSTED Security Requirements

27 May 2014

Established in 1975, Barming Primary School is at the heart of the community in Barming, Kent. The school strives to provide a safe and happy learning environment for its pupils, with modern facilities and a broad range of extracurricular activities.

As a key part of the local community, the school works hard in partnership with parents to ensure pupils achieve their full potential. With the pupil population doubling in size to 400 since opening, as well as a total of 50 staff, security at the school has become increasingly important in recent years.

In September 2011, OFSTED published a report recommending that all schools should provide a safer environment for children as best practice. The report states that all schools should give high priority to getting their safeguarding procedures right, including securing the perimeter of the school to ensure that it isn’t open for anyone to enter the premises.

Following its own OFSTED inspection in 2011, Barming School looked at investing in an access control system to ensure that they met these new safeguarding requirements. The school wanted an access control system to increase security and give them more control over the flow of pupils around the building. It was also paramount for parents to be confident that their children were going to a safe environment every day.

Paul Moon, Site Manager at Barming School, was responsible for implementing and overseeing the project. He says: “Our September 2011 OFSTED inspection raised issues about security that needed to be addressed. We needed an easy to use access control system that was within budget but still ticked all the boxes.”

The school enlisted the help of local installation company, SAES Ltd, to advise them on how to move forward with ramping up security at the school and install the new system.

Adam Gray, Manager of SAES Ltd, said: “Having previously received expensive quotes for standalone systems from other companies, Barming School were looking for a more cost-effective option that suited their needs. As regular installers of Paxton, we knew that we could provide them with a networked access control system for half the price quoted to them before.”

SAES Ltd specified Paxton’s networked access control system, Net2, to meet their requirements. Net2 electronically controls access to doors around a site, from a central PC, with easy to use software.

Adam fitted Paxton’s Net2 plus door controllers with Power over Ethernet around the perimeter of the school, securing a total of 13 external doors. Net2 plus is Paxton’s most advanced door control unit, employing the use of PoE technology to plug straight into an existing network with no need for additional main points. With minimal cabling required, the whole system was installed in just five days, within a half term week. This reduced the disruption to pupils and staff and provided a less expensive option for the school.

For extra convenience, Adam showed Paul how to use the time zones feature in Net2 Pro software to control pupil traffic, by setting time periods to only open specific doors at certain intervals of the day. Pupils and parents can now come and go freely during mornings, breaks and home time slots, whilst the school is secured automatically outside of these free access times. This means that Paul doesn’t have to be present to open and close the required doors during these times, leaving him free for other tasks.

Paul also set up triggers and actions in the Net2 software to send an email to alert him when a door has been forced or propped open. This means that he can act quickly and ensure that the staff, pupils and assets are safe should a security breach occur.

The school is very happy with the way the new system is working. Having Net2 at half the cost of previous quotes has meant they have a system that gives them control and flexibility, as well as meeting budget.

Paul says: “The new Net2 access control system has given us ultimate security and peace of mind for the parents. They are fully confident and happy that their children are safe when they come to school. The Net2 system has allowed us to meet OFSTED requirements and has improved the day to day running of the school.”

In the future Barming School are planning to expand the Net2 system to secure the classrooms, storage cupboards and offices. SAES Ltd will install Net2 PaxLock, a low cost, wireless door handle solution from Paxton. It is ideal for securing internal doors and can be installed in 30 minutes, providing a low cost solution with minimum fuss.