Between November 2018 and February 2019, the Government consulted leaders in the education sector on school security. The aim was to seek their views on the proposed new guidance for security-related incidents in their schools. Only 26 schools responded, and among these respondents, no consensus could be drawn.

Despite a lack of clear evidence an updated security guide for schools was published on the 5^th of November 2019 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-and-college-security/school-and-college-security). The key areas for schools to note is the new emphasis on both pre-planning and running simulated exercises. The subject of Business Continuity has thus been introduced as an area of importance. The most controversial aspect is the lack of clear direction in government guidance, forcing schools to fend for themselves. The guidance does provide links to useful information, but much of this contains links to yet more advice and documents or templates. It is easy to get lost in this minefield of information and hard to draw clear, practical advice.

This guide directs headteachers and academy leaders to implement their own emergency plans in their own schools.  At best this will lead to inconsistent safety throughout schools in the UK and at worst poorly handled major incidents.

If you work in the education sector and are concerned over your emergency plans, we offer a free 30-minute consultation to help guide you in the right direction.

We are also able to provide a cost-effective school incident software solution to provide all the tools to deal with incidents at your locations. Our system is currently used in over 50 schools around the UK along with our inclusive package covering the five elements required in the newly issued guide; risk assessment, planning, training, exercising and reviewing.

Work with us to ensure your schools are ready for any emergency. For further information visit https://www.continuitywest.co.uk/education/ or contact on 01225 220052 or info@continuitywest.co.uk

According to the 2019 Academies Financial Handbook, each Academy Trust must have a Risk Register and maintain it, as a key part of the Internal Audit and Security processes.

EFSA requires all Academy trusts to comply with the handbook as a condition of their funding agreement.

A Risk Register, if you have never managed one, is not particularly complicated and is a “Living document” used to manage projects and operational risks. There are any number of views on what should comprise a Risk Register, but in our experience, these should form the core:

• Risk Identifier
• Date Identified
• Date Closed
• Risk Description
• Probability
• Impact
• Risk Score
• Mitigation
• Risk Owner
• Date Updated
• Updated Probability
• Updated Impact
• Updated Risk Score
• Residual Risk

Other options include the acceptance of probability and impact, but if this is the first Risk Register that you will use or manage, the above will provide a good starting point.

Many Academy Trust Risk Registers omit Residual Risk. We consider this to be a critical element as there are instances where, even after treatment, for example enhancing IT Security to minimise the chance of a cyberattack, the risk will remain as cyber criminals become more sophisticated.

You may have notice that we have not covered what needs to be included in the Academy Trust Risk Register. These will be all the risks that pertain to your Academy. These may relate to Academy Trips, Compliance, Facilities Management, Health and Safety, IT Infrastructure, Safeguarding, Staff Issues and a plethora of External Threats.

The easiest way of identifying these risks is by conducting a Risk Assessment which should result in determining the probability and impact of each threat which will provide a (risk) score which, in turn, will identify the severity of each risk.

For those of our Academy Trust clients who are recording incidents in the MIMS, it should be possible to identify trends, e.g. incidents that occur in the same place or at the same time of day and this may enable the identification of some risks. However, this is no substitute for conducting a Risk Assessment in order to accurately populate the Risk Register.

To assist Academy Trusts in creating a Risk Register, Continuity West has a detailed Risk Assessment which comprises a one-day workshop with a target attendance of Decision Makers from the key disciplines within the Academy and Trust Board.

Although there is now a much greater awareness of flooding and in terms of preparation, we advocate obtaining a copy of the Environmental Agency’s “Prepare your Property for Flooding”https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/451622/LIT_4284.pdf, this blog discusses the separate peril of the escape of water from fixed pipes.  The following information should be considered for inclusion in your school business continuity planning.

Of course you know where the main stop cock (the place where water enters the property) is located, but do all your staff know?  In the event of an emergency, turning off the water can limit damage.

Are the buildings well-maintained?  Has there been a recent inspection of the building, internally and externally, taking in to account the condition of the guttering and the down pipes.  Blocked and overflowing guttering and pipes can cause their own issues, especially if the resulting overflow freezes on the ground!

Are all the water pipes and water tank(s) appropriately insulated, especially those in roof voids and lofts?

When the premises are to be unoccupied during school holidays in winter, leave the heating on at a low setting.

Do staff know what to do (other than turn off the water) in the event of a burst pipe or leak?  Many organisations provide maintenance policies and will send out on-call plumber the same day.  If there is no such arrangement, we would recommend you having contact details of 24 x 7 plumbers, as well as heating engineers and electricians. Ideally this information should be held in an easy to access location along with your business continuity plans.

If you have member of the public or organisations using your facilities during holidays, it is important to understand the respective responsibilities you each have. How do they report any issues they encounter to a member of your team? Who is available to assist / on call to resolve any issue that occur? Do they also hold contact numbers for the key holders in your organisation?

Our advice is to invest some time now, before it becomes really cold, on checking out the condition and insulation of the pipework.  We also suggest making sure your business continuity plans are in place and you know how to implement them in the case of an emergency. As experts in this field we are always happy to help and with our cloud based incident management system (MIMS) can ensure you are ready for any incident major or minor.