School security audits: still time to book now before the summer holidays.

Is your school compliant with the DfE’s guidance on school site security? Pharos offer full school site security audits which start with a review of your site security policy, lockdown and emergency procedures as well as a detailed site survey to identify your security priorities, threats, challenges and weaknesses.
We can adapt our recommendations to suit the ethos and culture of the school as we recognise that some like a very high-profile security presence while most, understandably, favour maintaining an open, welcoming environment that is suitably secure. Therefore, most of our recommendations are typically policy or procedural rather than overt (expensive!), hard security features, although clearly sometimes these are necessary. All recommendations are based on the DfE’s guidance on site security and our own significant experience of school security and the sort of incidents that occur on school sites.
Pharos has a unique perspective on school security and risk issues as we are regularly supporting client schools with real incidents on (and off) school sites. This enables us to provide a more holistic approach and make practical recommendations that are very current and real-world.

Who carries out security audits?
Our security audits are conducted by Security Advisers who are highly experienced in school security. This experience usually follows a career in the police with specialist security roles.
According to availability for your preferred dates, we will introduce a recommended Adviser for your school and provide their specific background and DBS reference once a date is agreed.

Structure of a school security audit
Our school security audits are made up of three parts:

The pre-visit review. We will request your policies and procedures that we will review alongside an initial security appraisal of your local area and perimeter in advance of our site visit.

The site security visit. Our Security Adviser will use our bespoke audit app to capture their observations, insights and recommendations. This will include photographic evidence as required.

The RAG-rated site security report, which includes recommendations on:
a. hard security improvements such as perimeter measures, access control, CCTV, signage etc
b. soft security improvements: procedures and training to include emergency response/lockdown
c. security culture improvements: the style, approach and values that the school wishes to adopt towards security that together help keep students and staff safe. Security reports are moderated by a second Pharos security expert to help ensure consistency and to provide a second opinion on any issues and recommendations.

Costs and booking
These full security audits are priced at £2,000+VAT, which includes the pre-visit review, the day-long site visit and the comprehensive report. There’s still time to book a security audit to be completed before the summer holidays. You will then be able to use the summer break to implement any of the identified hard security improvements that you choose.
To book your audit or to find out more, please get in touch on 01183 800 140 or info@pharos-response.co.uk.