Safer School

Our school is a ‘Safer School’ 

West Mercia Police and Shropshire Council support our school with the Safer School initiative. We are an accredited ‘Safer School’ and proud of our Safer School sign and certificate. The accreditation is reviewed every two years.

The initiative is a holistic, practical and realistic approach to school security and personal safety. It gives our school a clear focus on the subject and turns a negative subject into a positive one. It sets a minimum standard for school security.

The essential elements of the ‘Safer School’ process include:-

• Implementing a security policy that the governors have adopted.
• Consulting parents/carers and pupils/students for their views and updating them on any progress.
• Publicity of Safer Schools to school staff, pupils, school neighbours, parents and prospective parents.
• Establishing a Safer School Group. This Safer School Group is a partnership of school stakeholders – Headteacher/Deputy, staff, governors, parents, pupils, neighbours, Shropshire Council and West Mercia Police.
• Regularly reviewing and implementing good practice and essential security/safety measures for staff, pupils, the site and assets.
• Educating pupils through the Personal, Social, Health and Economic curriculum programme or the Safer School folder.
• A daily procedure for recording incidents should they occur i.e. trespass, burglary, theft, anti-social behaviour, vandalism, arson, suspicious activity etc., both during school hours and out-of hours.
• Solving real problems rather than perceived problems. Prioritising work (if any) and reviewing action.
• If there are security issues i.e. vandalism, anti-social behaviour etc., the intention of the initiative is to reduce/eliminate the issues.

Feedback:

Ian Bartlett, Crime Prevention Officer, Shropshire Council commented; “Congratulations to The Grange Primary School on maintaining their Safer School accreditation. The School was accredited a Safer School in 2013 and eight years later, Mrs Summers and governors have continued the process. The recent Safer School meeting, held through Teams video, clearly indicated the school’s commitment to the initiative and it was really positive. At the meeting, we updated the action plan, checked the security/safety measures, reviewed the parent/carer/pupil surveys, analysed the incident reporting and planned for the future. Although not security related, the majority of the feedback from the surveys concerned the Covid precautions so we considered these measures. A vital part of Safer Schools is communication and involving governors, staff, pupils, parents/carers, Police and Council. At The Grange Primary School, good communication is achieved through meetings, surveys and newsletters. A new Safer School certificate was presented to the school and a further annual meeting is planned for Summer 2022. Overall, excellent work!”