Proposed Changes to Access to the Little Heath School Site

As part of the construction of the school’s new building, an inner secure fence line was installed in the area around the main entrance to the school. Now that this fence line is in place, the school has taken the opportunity to carry out a wider review of the security of the school site.

With effect from Monday 13 June, we plan to make the following changes to the way that students gain access to, and leave, the school site.

1) The only access available to the school site in the mornings will be from Little Heath Road, either through the gate at the Main Entrance (and then through the new gate at the side of Main Reception) or via the Sixth Form gates.

Rationale: given the location of the Spring Lane and Warborough Avenue gates, any unauthorised access via these gates is highly likely to go unnoticed. Keeping these gates locked in the mornings will minimise the risk of any unauthorised access taking place in advance of the school day starting.

What these changes mean for students and parents:

• any students who normally enter via the Spring Lane or Warborough Avenue gates will need to allow themselves some extra time in the morning so that they can walk round to one of the entrances on Little Heath School without arriving late for morning registration;
• this change cannot result in more traffic on Little Heath Road so if, for example, you currently drop your child off in Warborough Avenue, please continue to do so, and your child can then walk the short distance to the school gate on Little Heath Road;
• as is the case now, students who arrive by car should not be dropped off inside the main school entrance (whilst most parents do not do this, I would urge all parents to respect this request, as it is made for the safety of students and to help minimise congestion on Little Heath Road).

2) During the school day, all the gates on the new inner secure fence line will be locked, as will the Sixth Form gates.

Rationale: once these gates are locked, there will be more stringent control over who is entering or leaving the student areas of the school site, managed by the staff in Main Reception.

What these changes mean for students and parents:

• as is the case now, all parents and other visitors must report to Main Reception on arrival;
• any student who arrives late for school, or who needs to leave early, will need to do so via Main Reception where these late arrivals and early departures can be authorised and recorded as appropriate.

3) At the end of the school day, students will be able to leave the school site via the Sixth Form and Main Entrance gates on to Little Heath Road. In addition, they will be able to leave via the Spring Lane and Warborough Avenue gates, up until 3.45pm.

Rationale: most students leave school at the same time, which will create too much pressure at the two exits on Little Heath Road if the Warborough Avenue and Spring Lane gates are not in use (arrival times in the morning tend to be more spread out, meaning less pressure on the Little Heath Road entrances at that time of day). To minimise the risk of unauthorised access via the Warborough Avenue and Spring Lane gates, these gates will be locked again at 3.45pm, by which time the majority of students will have left the school site.

What these changes mean for students and parents:

• up until 3.45pm, students will be able to leave school via any of the school’s gates;
• students who leave school after 3.45pm, for example at the end of an after school club or detention, will need to do so via the Main Entrance gates or Sixth Form gates. NB we are currently waiting for the Sixth Form gates to be automated and, once this work has been completed, students will only be able to leave via the Main Entrance gates after 3.45pm.

We will operate with the above procedures, initially for a two week period, from Monday 13 June, during which time we will monitor how the new arrangements are working. Please talk through the new procedures carefully with your child/children prior to 13 June, although we do appreciate that it may take a few days for us all to get fully used to these changes. It is perhaps worth saying at this point that I do appreciate these changes may not be convenient for everyone. The changes will however enhance the security of the school site for students and staff.

Please do feel free to send any constructive feedback on these changes to office@littleheath.org.uk. We will look to address any significant issues that are highlighted by the initial two week trial period, but it is unlikely that we will make any major changes to these processes if those changes are just to address issues to do with minor inconvenience. Enhanced security is the key aim and sometimes there is some cost to achieving that.