Congratulations to Minsterley Primary School on maintaining the Safer School accreditation. The school was accredited a Safer School in 2012 and recently, Miss Wilcox and staff held a Safer School meeting to update the school’s involvement in the security/safety initiative. Normally the Police attend the meeting but on this occasion, they forwarded their apologises. At the meeting, we reviewed security/safety measures, updated the action plan and refreshed the incident reporting process. Reassuringly there had been no recorded incidents since the previous meeting in 2023. Overall, it was a really positive meeting with good contribution by all those present and I was particularly impressed by the hard work of Miss Wilcox in preparation for the meeting. An updated Safer School certificate was presented during the meeting and a future meeting is planned for Summer 2024.
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.
Minsterley Primary School – Safer School Certificate
