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 students for their views and updating them on any progress.
• Publicity of Safer Schools to school staff, students, 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, students, neighbours, Shropshire Council and West Mercia Police.
• Regularly reviewing and implementing good practice and essential security/safety measures for staff, students, 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.

26/04/24 | Feedback from Ian Bartlett, Safer Schools, Shropshire Council:

“With strong commitment and involvement, Shrewsbury Academy has maintained it’s Safer School accreditation since 2013. This safeguarding, security, and safety process was well demonstrated at a recent Safer School meeting involving school staff, a governor, the Police and myself representing Shropshire Council.

“An important aspect of Safer Schools is listening to the views of those involved with the academy. To achieve this, surveys of both parents/carers and students had been carried out in advance of our meeting. Reassuringly, the overall feedback was good. We reviewed the surveys in some detail and the school is implementing changes where necessary.  Fortunately, these changes are relatively few and an improvement year on year. Excellent progress.

“The academy was presented with an updated Safer School certificate and a future meeting is planned for 2025. At this meeting, we’ll review the extensive new building and site changes. Early suggestions would appear to be a great improvement for the future.”