Safeguarding Students: How School Sign-In Systems Can Help.
At EntrySign, safeguarding is at the heart of what we do, from our tagline “Sign In, Secure, and Safeguard” to our mission statement, we prioritise protection and security. But what does safeguarding really mean in an educational setting?
Safeguarding in an Educational Setting:
Safeguarding refers to “the obligation to protect people’s health, well-being and human rights, and to ensure a person does not suffer from harm, abuse or neglect”, according to the House of Lords Library. In education, this particularly means creating an environment that puts pupil safety first, with all staff members being vigilant and prompt in identifying and reporting concerns, so that education is the primary focus for students.
According to the Department for Education (DfE), in their statutory guidance for keeping children safe in education, “it is essential that everybody working in a school or college understands their safeguarding responsibilities” and “safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility”.
Sign-in systems help to ease this duty.
What Are Sign-In Systems?
Sign-in systems are the modern solution to paper visitor registration books. Helping to maximise security levels, impart a modern feel and reduce administration; sign-in systems are an integral part of the daily routine for most up-to-date schools and organisations.
Signing in and managing visitors is just one small aspect of a visitor management system’s vast features. Particularly for the education sector, screening visitors, monitoring movements, integrating with management information systems (MIS), tracking important documentation and producing real-time evacuation reports, are prominent features in easing duties and maximising safeguarding.
Know Who Is On-Site in Real-Time:
Schools can be busy places, with visitors, contractors and students frequently entering and leaving the premises. Knowing who is present or absent is essential to ensuring the safety and security of students and staff. With an advanced school sign-in system, you can see exactly who is on-site in real time and look back at past visitors.
Important visitor details can be viewed, such as their name, company, vehicle registration, signature and photograph for easy identification. Accessing important visitor data, monitoring movements and generating custom reports, offers rapid inspection of individuals and their whereabouts. This is particularly important in protecting students and ensuring their place of education is viewed as a safe and secure space.
Monitor and Restrict Access:
Some digital sign-in systems provide the option to add certain individuals to a restricted list, adding an extra layer of visitor screening and site security. This feature may be appropriate for visitors who have previously caused trouble or are known to be a security and safety concern to students or staff.
When a blacklisted visitor attempts to sign in, a message can be displayed on the screen to halt the sign-in process. Blacklisting provides control over exactly who is allowed on site, providing autonomy over your students’ welfare and ensuring you have authority over who is allowed in your school.
Visitor and Contractor Screening:
During the sign-in process, you can ask custom security questions and display a range of policies, including school conduct, student welfare and data processing for visitors to read and accept. Policies can be tailored to include important information, images and photos of key staff members. Screening visitors and contractors helps to ensure they pose no risk to student safeguarding and site security.
In addition to visitor screening, a school sign-in system makes it much easier to track the expiry dates of important documentation, such as DBS checks. The sign-in process can be halted in case of their expiration, maintaining safeguarding and ensuring compliance.
Incident and Accident Reporting:
School sign-in systems allow you to keep a secure and accurate record of any incidents and accidents that occur in school. Proper documentation provides a simple and easy way to track these events, facilitating effective follow-up actions. By recording any unfortunate events, such as slips, trips, falls and bumps, appropriate measures can be put in place, preventing future incidents and safeguarding pupils.
Incident and accident reporting also provides important information for audits, inspections and higher authorities, helping to safeguard those involved, improving response and enhancing compliance.
Integration With MIS Systems:
Digital visitor management solutions that integrate with MIS systems can automate the importation of staff and students on-roll, reducing administration and saving time and money.
When students arrive late or leave the school premises after registration, their movements can be recorded. Some sign-in systems can write back session attendance marks, determine the correct mark to write and calculate minutes late where required, ensuring attendance records are accurate reflections.
Holding a precise log of students’ whereabouts is paramount for their safety and for ensuring high levels of education.
Emergency Preparedness:
Maintaining an up-to-date attendance record is crucial for emergencies, enabling an accurate evacuation roll call and ensuring everyone is safe and accounted for.
With school sign-in systems, you can improve safety procedures, such as fire evacuations by having information available on demand. Accurate lists of individuals registered in the building can be generated through one-click evacuation reports and replayed to multiple email addresses or printers.
Additionally, it’s important to identify and meet the accessibility needs of individuals with disabilities to ensure their safety and well-being. Some visitor sign-in systems can help to maintain safety in emergencies by displaying a marker against individuals with additional needs. This provides easy identification of those requiring assistance in an evacuation.
Integrating Digital Sign-In Systems in Schools:
At EntrySign, we understand the importance of safeguarding and security in educational settings. That’s why so many educational institutions across the globe trust our safe and secure sign-in solution for managing their staff, pupils, visitors, and contractors.