FEATURE
STAFF SUPPORT
An advanced staff alarm system protects teachers in Carrongrange High School.
A leading provider of staff attack systems, Pinpoint Ltd is protecting staff and students in Carrongrange High School with its innovative safety alarms.
Situated in the centre of Grangemouth, Carrongrange High School is Scotland’s only purpose-built secondary school for pupils with moderate, severe and complex additional support needs.
Taught by specialist practitioners in classes with a maximum of 10 pupils, the school provides dedicated support to equip each student with the skills to live independently.
Schools across Scotland are experiencing increasing rates of violence towards teaching staff. A report published earlier this year revealed 16,245 attacks on teachers were recorded in the last 12 months, equating to 85 assaults each day.
In schools working with students with additional needs, these figures are often higher. Students with varying special needs can exhibit challenging behaviour towards teachers and support staff, which can escalate quickly, endangering staff and other students if not managed professionally and sensitively. Although unintentional, these behavioural issues can exhibit as violence, with a survey conducted by UNISON finding four out of five teachers from SEN schools had been assaulted at work.
“16,245 ATTACKS ON TEACHERS WERE RECORDED IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS, EQUATING TO 85 ASSAULTS EACH DAY.”
With this in mind, many SEN schools across the UK are implementing safety measures to minimise the risk of antisocial behaviour resulting in aggressive outbursts. Carrongrange High School reached out to a specialist supplier of staff safety alarms, Pinpoint Ltd, to reduce the number of incidents and better manage those that do arise.
Meeting the needs of the community at Carrongrange High School, the Pinpoint P2 System works in two ways – providing both assistance and emergency support. The former is for when a staff member feels a potentially difficult situation is evolving between themselves and a student, between two students, or between a student and a member of the public. In this case, the staff member can discreetly activate
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their personal, body-worn alarm, notifying colleagues of the need for assistance and their exact location on site. More often than not, the presence of another staff member is enough to diffuse the situation and prevent further escalation.
In other cases where a physical attack is imminent or in progress, teachers need to be able to summon emergency support immediately. Without even needing to look at their personal alarm or feel for a button, the user can simply pull the device apart, removing the head from the body. This raises the emergency alarm, alerting fellow colleagues – and the student – that help has been summoned. Alerted to the location and nature of the alarm call, the emergency team swiftly arrive at the scene and intervene to bring the incident to an end.
Using the Pinpoint staff alarm system, the teachers at Carrongrange High School have observed a decrease in the number of assaults. The simple knowledge that teachers can quickly call for help using their personal alarm has served as a deterrent to hostile behaviour from pupils. In incidents where students continue to behave in an aggressive manner, the Pinpoint system functions effectively to de-escalate and intervene.
Covering two floors with 32 classrooms and additional areas including the gym, a swimming and hydrotherapy pool, during term time, the system can be activated up to 10 times a day. On days when no activation takes place, the school’s staff report feeling safer in their work environment, knowing help can be summoned in high- risk situations at the push of a button.
Scott Thomson, Deputy Headteacher at Carrongrange High School, said: “The Pinpoint system is great. It is effective, instantaneous and it works well for us.
“It helps staff and pupils feel much safer. By students just knowing that staff can summon help immediately with their personal alarm has significantly reduced the number of incidents from what we would otherwise have.”
www.pinpoint.ltd.uk www.tomorrowshs.com
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