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.

06/06/23 | We are delighted to share that our Safer School accreditation has been approved for a further 2 years! Please see the below feedback following our latest Safer Schools meeting:

Ian Bartlett, Crime Prevention Officer commented; “The Safer School initiative is a security/safety process promoted by Shropshire Council and supported by West Mercia Police. Recently, Lower Heath held a Safer School meeting. The meeting was thorough and we considered security/safety measures, reviewed the incident recording and lastly, prepared an action plan. Involving parents/carers and pupils is an important aspect of the initiative and the survey results were particularly reassuring. In addition, there was good news regarding the incident recording as there had been no recorded incidents since the previous meeting. The school was presented with a new Safer School certificate and planning ahead, a future Safer School meeting is scheduled for summer 2024.”