Guest Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Hi all Well had LEA support and come and view a session of school club which I am committee member of. Result was very positive however he brought up a safeguarding issue which he said he brought up a couple of years ago and was still not sorted!! School club is based on school site. The problem is one of the entrance doors which is right next to the school club room. The entrance door has cctv and only accessible using a code. However, getting out of the door means the children just have to press the green door release button and away they go. Seeing as the toilets that the children use are also opposite this door (next to club room) staff now have to accompany the children to the toilet to ensure they do not go out! He suggested a bolt but we dont think we can as a fire exit. We do stress to children that they are not allowed to go out etc Anyone else have any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 We have a fire door into the Children's Centre at the back of our room which can't be locked. So we put a buzzer on it, the type that you put on windows as a burglar alarm. It makes quite an impressive noise if it is opened which alerts staff to any attempts to escape that way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I know the sort you mean...would have to be flippin loud though to be heard over the school club children!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mps09 Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I know the sort you mean...would have to be flippin loud though to be heard over the school club children!! we had one - and it was deafening! and it was just a cheap one from Maplins Electronics. It went off for as long as the door was open - as loud as a fire bell I would say..... and the school asked us to remove it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 we had one - and it was deafening! and it was just a cheap one from Maplins Electronics. It went off for as long as the door was open - as loud as a fire bell I would say..... and the school asked us to remove it! Typical. Will have to see if our head will go for something like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbat Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Marley we have a fire door which we need to keep secure too, we had the fire safety officer come out and advise us and we now have a bolt BUT you have to be able to pull the whole bole out in an emergancy, ours is just a normal one that you would see maybe on a gate or something? but the end bit which normally stops the bolt coming out has been taken off so in an emergancy we just whip the bolt out (if you see what I mean) Not sure this would help you as you say people come in from the other side which we don't but thought I'd let you know just in case it helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 We had issues with a chain across a fire door but we had to weigh up with the fire safety guy which was the bigger danger fire or intruder/ escape. Never had any issues about it at inspections etc because we could justify one danger against another, however we now have a system where all doors need a swipe of a toggle thing!! Not sure thats very practical either!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie-pops Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Hi - before we had our foyer revamped we had a similar issue - the main entrance was a fire door with a push bar which at least one child in the past had managed to open. We had always thought we couldn't further secure it but when we consulted the fire officer he said we could have a bolt on it as long as we put clear instructions beside it that the bolt was only for use during our settings opening hours (we are based in a hall used by other groups). However I don't know whether we were allowed to do this as it was not the only fire exit. Prior to this we used the adhesive alarms which a few people have already mentioned. It might be worth asking advice as the piece of mind from having the bolt was such a relief! x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristina Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Hi In a setting I worked at afew years ok they also had an issue with a fire door that just had a bar that you pushed down to release. Obviously this was picked up on by Ofsted so we called in the local fire officer, he told us to fit a small slide bolt at the top and to put a member of staff in charge of releasing the bolt should the fire alarm sound. He put his reccommendations in writing we add to our risk assessments and our fire procedures and that was it. As I said this was a few years ok but maybe if there is a local fire officer they could come in and advise you. Kris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Thanks for all the ideas. This has now been passed onto a committee member to liase with the head about. Will let you know what he says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jayr Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 (edited) Thanks for all the ideas. This has now been passed onto a committee member to liaise with the head about. Will let you know what he says. Hello Everybody, This was picked up at our last inspection. We did put a bolt at the top of our door.We use the hall of our school for our activities. Other after school activities that take place use the door in question this is downstairs and goes out into the playground. It's very difficult monitoring this door, we put the bolt on, others are going out that way we are not aware of. After-school activities taking place are run by outside agents sports etc (they need it open for the toilet). I have tried going to the head ( I will try again on this subject) Doors in our setting are none accessible from the outside in. We need to use this corridor downstairs so the children can go to the loo and wash hands if they are painting etc. The bolt lasted no more than a week or two "someone with mussel" pulled the door with the bolt on needless to say it bent, the caretaker has just left it broken but that's another story. This door has been a very big pain my life, Reception class is right next door to the for-said exit. Children from this classroom use the corridor all the time going to the loo etc they don't have trouble with children escaping. Sorry for the rant but a visit from OFSTED is immanent and I have no solution to the door problem Fed up. Jayr P.S. Why is OFSTED so fanatical on rules for out of school clubs and not the same rules in schools a teacher can have a large class but we have to provide two member of staff for one child at all times. Still fed up Edited February 15, 2011 by jayr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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