Aligning your school’s security and safeguarding

DfE security guidance issued

This week the Department for Education (DfE) published a raft of guidance documents to help schools and colleges manage their security effectively and enable them to meet their obligations. It is expected that all settings have a policy and plan in place to manage and respond to security related incidents.

Of course, security and safeguarding do not exist in isolation. According to the DfE:

‘’Your security policy should complement your safeguarding policy, particularly where it puts in place measures to protect students and address the threat of serious violence. It should form part of your suite of policies to ensure the health, safety and well-being of students and staff.’’

How this guidance can help DSLs

The newly released guidance advises on several areas including responsibilities for leading and managing security safety, identifying and managing external and internal risks, testing security plans, and staff training.

We would recommend all DSLs take the time to review the documents and discuss them with the school or college’s Health and Safety Team, Premises Lead, and the Senior leadership Team. These documents may be especially helpful if you are reviewing aspects of an existing policy or your current procedures.  

The link below will take you to the full portfolio of supporting documents. These include a self-assessment emergency incident planning checklist, risk assessment and evaluation templates, as well as templates pertaining to a range of security threats such as terrorist incident, bomb alert and incident, and lockdown and evacuation.

Help navigating these areas

We appreciate that much of this guidance relates to extreme and, thankfully, rare potential issues but also that it can be a lot to make sense of. If you need assistance incorporating this advice and best practice into your policies, we may be able to help. Contact us to discuss your requirements and how we can support you.