As the new academic year approaches, ensuring the safety and security of students, staff, and visitors should be a top priority for every school. One crucial aspect of school security is implementing an effective visitor management system. This guide will walk you through seven key strategies to enhance your school’s visitor management procedures and bolster campus safety before the back-to-school season begins.
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Create a clear visitor management process
Train staff on visitor management procedures
Secure your campus entry points
Create a great first impression
Implement a visitor badge system
Establish protocols for special events
Are you looking for a visitor management system to manage your school visitors?
1. Evaluate your current system
With the start of a new academic year, it’s an opportune time to reassess your school’s safeguarding measures, particularly your visitor sign-in system.
Begin by thoroughly examining your existing visitor management practices, from arrival to departure procedures. Identify strengths and weaknesses, and review any incidents from the previous year.
This assessment will highlight areas for improvement and help prioritise enhancements to your visitor management system.
Paper visitor books VS visitor management system in schools
While school safety has always been a critical concern, some institutions still rely on outdated paper visitor books, potentially compromising their security measures.
Paper visitor books were sufficient when minimal safety protocols met the expectations of parents, governors, and regulatory bodies. However, with advanced systems now available, schools should seize every opportunity to enhance the safeguarding of their staff and pupils.
Drawbacks of paper visitor books:
- Fail to provide an instant list of who is signed in
- Insecure storage of visitor information
- Difficult and time-consuming to pinpoint visitor history
- Fall short of giving your visitors a good first impression.
Benefits of digital school sign-in systems:
- Equip you with a real-time list of everyone signed in
- Secure cloud storage of data and visitor history
- GDPR Compliance
- Paperless entry process
- Deliver an outstanding visitor experience.
Our visitor management system, VisiPoint, was created as an alternative, more effective way to capture data and prioritise safeguarding while providing a great user experience and remaining affordable to meet school budgets.
If you’re still using paper-based visitor books, now is the time to upgrade your check-in system!
2. Create a clear visitor management process
Developing clear, written policies outlining visitor management protocols and processes is essential and helps to enforce a positive first impression for visitors.
These policies and processes should cover visitor registration requirements, ID verification processes and the creation of visitor badges.
It’s crucial that these policies are not only well-defined but also communicated effectively to all staff members and made easily accessible for reference.
Once your campus safety protocols have been established and you know the data you need to collect from visitors, VisiPoint can be customised to align with your sign-in process by creating your own sign-in buttons for user types and custom data fields for data capture.
3. Train staff on visitor management procedures
Providing comprehensive training to all staff members is crucial for the success of your visitor management system.
This training should cover how to use the system, proper visitor check-in and check-out procedures, and how to identify and report suspicious behaviour.
It’s also important to include emergency response protocols in this training.
VisiPoint is an ideal solution for emergency scenarios, providing instantly accessible, up-to-date fire lists that multiple staff members can use simultaneously during roll calls.
4. Secure your campus entry points
Ensuring all school entry points are secure is a fundamental aspect of visitor management.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to consider designating a single point of entry for visitors during school hours to streamline the check-in process and improve overall security but this cannot always be possible depending on the size of your campus. VisiPoint’s range of kiosks allows you the flexibility to have either a single point of sign-in for visitors, staff and students or can allow you to have multiple check-in points.
Additional security measures may include installing cameras at all entrances and employing security personnel at main entry points.
5. Create a great first impression for visitors
While security is paramount, it’s also important to create a welcoming atmosphere for guests.
Design a friendly, appealing reception area that makes a positive first impression while maintaining necessary security measures.
VisiPoint’s intuitive user interface and modern design contribute to an excellent first impression. The system’s user-friendly check-in process is fast, efficient, and paperless. With no limits on visitor sign-ins or staff accounts, the system can grow with your school.
6. Implement a visitor badge system
A robust visitor badge system is a key component of effective visitor management and enhancing safeguarding within your school setting. You should make it an essential requirement that all visitors wear visible identification badges throughout their time on campus. Each badge should include the visitor’s name, the date, and their level of access.
VisiPoint prints a photo ID badge for everyone coming onto your premises, clearly showing their details, visit information and what access they have been granted.
7. Establish protocols for special events
Special events like parents’ evenings, sports events, or school performances require specific procedures for managing a large number of visitors at once. When possible, pre-register attendees to streamline the check-in process.
VisiPoint allows you to pre-register visitors and issue QuickPass codes, which visitors can scan from their phones for efficient sign-in.
Set up dedicated check-in stations equipped to handle increased visitor flow. Brief all event staff on security protocols to ensure consistent implementation of visitor management procedures, even during peak times.
Conclusion
By implementing these visitor management strategies, you’ll create a safer, more secure environment for your school community. A well-managed visitor system not only enhances security but also demonstrates your school’s commitment to the safety and well-being of everyone on campus.
Remember, the goal is to create a school environment that is both welcoming to visitors and secure against potential threats.
Are you looking for a visitor management system to manage your school visitors?
Contact our expert team today and we’ll help provide you with a sleek and modern visitor management solution that seamlessly supports your school safety and security.