Lockdown Alarm

[northeast_technician]

That's dependant on people looking at their screens, which wouldn't suit some teachers, especially practical subjects or PE teachers, but any teacher has the potential to not look at their screen much during a lesson. I can think of teachers here who use their computer for the register and then barely touch it after that.

I am sure Netsupport and impero do something like that if i remember from BETT this year

[Domino]

I'm only here to suggest the noise it should make: https://inception.davepedu.com/

[jtdunford]

In our school, they actually make an announcement to say that the school is in lockdown and staff should follow the instructions in their emergency handbook. The handbook is located in every room in the school and instructs staff to pull any students in from the hall, lock the doors and move to an area of the room that cannot be seen from the door or windows if possible. All of our doors and windows have blinds that are to be closed during a drill or an actual event. Once the event is over, another announcement is made.

[Renfield-64]

In our school, they actually make an announcement to say that the school is in lockdown and staff should follow the instructions in their emergency handbook. The handbook is located in every room in the school and instructs staff to pull any students in from the hall, lock the doors and move to an area of the room that cannot be seen from the door or windows if possible. All of our doors and windows have blinds that are to be closed during a drill or an actual event. Once the event is over, another announcement is made.

 

The problem with making an announcement is that the intruder will also hear it which could be counter productive and cause them to hurt more people more quickly!

[jtdunford]

I don't disagree with you on that point. I've suggested that if they want to make an announcement, they need a code word that the staff are made aware of, instead of saying its a lockdown. I jokingly suggested that they just play the Star Trek "red alert" over the PA.

[jtdunford]

I just came across this:

 

https://www.guideone.com/safety-resources/lockdown-procedures-schools

 

it states that you should "Be direct. DO NOT USE CODES."

[enjay]

The problem with making an announcement is that the intruder will also hear it which could be counter productive and cause them to hurt more people more quickly!

 

The intruder would probably realise they'd been spotted when the lockdown alarm sounds,regardless of whether it is a tone or words.

[Farloch]

There should be a bigger emphasis on people getting into the building in the first place. If the entry/exit points are tightly controlled then any visitor should only be able to get as far as the front foyer at best.

 

Locking all the doors after an intruder is already on the premises seems to be counterproductive as it can trap people in a more compromising situation and setting off the fire alarm would surely release all the maglocks anyway. A building with panicking staff and children with all the doors manually locked in a fire situation could potentially cause more casualties than it would prevent.

[enjay]

If the entry/exit points are tightly controlled then any visitor should only be able to get as far as the front foyer at best.

 

Easier said than done in a rural school

[Matt_NetSupport]

Easier said than done in a rural school

 

 

Hi Techiewils (and others),

 

To be clear from the beginning, I work at NetSupport.

 

NetSupport Notify is used by many schools as part of their lockdown procedure - I think the key is to have ‘options’, until a situation arises it is difficult to predict the best way to respond to it. So having a few different ways to send messages gives you flexibility - the examples in this thread are all good ones and they are not all expensive, NetSupport Notify would be another.

 

You can send notifications to digital signage or user devices from your PC, Mac, iPhone or Android device, you can see who has received the message in real-time and you have a history (this is one area where it differs from other software solutions mentioned in this thread)

 

The system is simple to setup and can be used for a variety of things (not just lockdown scenarios)

 

 

You can try NetSupport Notify for free at NetSupport Notify - Alerting in Education and the solution is not expensive.

 

If you need any assistance setting it up or have any questions I’m happy to help.

 

 

Matt

Edited May 22, 2018 by Matt_NetSupport

[enjay]

you can see who has received the message in real-time and you have a history (this is one area where it differs from other software solutions mentioned in this thread)

 

That is one of the reasons we bought it. When the lockdown alarm clears, we will send a message via NetSupport Notify. Premises staff or SLT will then prioritise those staff who haven't acknowledged it, and go to check they're okay.

[enjay]

Every single machine has an SSD here. Hibernation for an HDD is primarily about power savings. SSDs require significantly less power than an HDD, so that mitigatesthe "power-saving" "advantage". When you factor in extending your SSD's lifespan, even by a relatively small percentage, the scale tips in favor of disabling hibernation.

 

This set me thinking as we have some problems with how PCs resume from sleep, so I bought a plug-in energy monitor (I'd been meaning to get one for ages, and this reminded me). My SSD-equipped PC pulls around 15W when in use, when the disk spins down in the first stages of power saving this only drops to 13W. Compare that with the 1W it pulls when in sleep, and there's still a big saving to be had from enabling the power management even with an SSD.

[kennysarmy]

Easier said than done in a rural school

 

I would n't class our school as rural necessarily but we've still got a very "open" site....there is absolutely nothing to stop anyone from driving on to or walking on to our site!

 

I'm looking for a free "screen messaging system" that would allow key staff to send pop-up alerts to all domain connected PC's - coming up with a blank so far

[enjay]

I'm looking for a free "screen messaging system" that would allow key staff to send pop-up alerts to all domain connected PC's - coming up with a blank so far

 

We're using NetSupport Notify. Not free, but not expensive either. Couple of hundred to buy then about £50 per year?

[kennysarmy]

We're using NetSupport Notify. Not free, but not expensive either. Couple of hundred to buy then about £50 per year?

 

Our quote was four figures! So deputy said "no".

[jthompson]

I would n't class our school as rural necessarily but we've still got a very "open" site....there is absolutely nothing to stop anyone from driving on to or walking on to our site!

 

I'm looking for a free "screen messaging system" that would allow key staff to send pop-up alerts to all domain connected PC's - coming up with a blank so far

 

For nearly free, have you looked into Winsent? You'd need a license (~£10) for each of you key staff to send messages, but the clients are free. Firmly towards the 'good enough' end of things, though.

[enjay]

Our quote was four figures! So deputy said "no".

 

Sub-200 here, but it is per-seat pricing and we've only got it on staff PCs.