Achieving specialist Technology College status in 1997, Saint Wilfrid's Church of England High School and Technology College serves the entire Blackburn Diocese. Teaching children from the ages of eleven through to eighteen, the school firmly believes in creating an environment that will maximise both staff teaching methods, and each pupil's ability to learn, essentially, by providing a purposeful and safe environment. This ethos has recently been underlined with the installation of a Panasonic end-to-end IP CCTV surveillance solution, designed to protect the school's property and its patrons.
Leading technology
Originally occupying an old mill building in the centre of Blackburn five years ago, the ageing school's structure was demolished and replaced with a purpose built facility. The brand new, state-of-the-art education centre was at the time, secured with a basic analogue CCTV installation, using a handful of cameras to cover key areas in some internal corridors. However, wear and tear on the system, developments in surveillance technology, and the expansion of the school's student numbers, led school management to look for a new CCTV solution. Roger Abell, Learning Environment Manager at St. Wilfrid's school takes up the story: "We knew we wanted the best solution we could get, and therefore wanted a recognisable brand name solution to invest in. Panasonic really impressed us with the clarity of images available from their end-to-end solution, and were able to give us a very convincing on-site demonstration of its capabilities. Suitably impressed with their technology, we were put in touch with installation company Clarion, a Panasonic Premier Integrator (PPI). Throughout the specification period, we were more than happy to deal with Clarion, as right from the start we were able to talk to them on a level we understood, without being blinded by any unfamiliar industry jargon."
Due to the flexibility and expandability of the original Panasonic i-Pro solution, external IP CCTVs were added easily |
Liaising with Roger, Clarion, whose 35 years surveillance experience told him where system coverage would need to be placed as a priority, used their in-depth product knowledge to provide Roger with a technical solution that perfectly met his needs. Installing a Gigabit Ethernet backbone, Clarion engineers connected thirteen Panasonic WV-NF284 Internal IP cameras and six Panasonic WV-NW484 Vandal Resistant External IP cameras at the school, digitally recorded by a Panasonic WJ-ND300A Network Video Recorder (NVR), populated with 2 Terabytes of hard disc storage.
Addressing the challenges
To realise the system from design-to-reality, Clarion engineers not only had to address the unique monitoring challenges presented by a modern school environment, but also its unique installation challenges too, as Chris Billinge, Managing Director of Clarion explains: "Due to the timing of the project, we were installing the system whilst the school was open to students, and therefore civil works needed to be kept to an absolute minimum, to avoid any disruption to their educational routine. With good planning and a skilled team, we were able to keep the installation time of each camera position to a minimum, a factor that was helped greatly by the ease of installation and set-up of the Panasonic i-Pro product, and the decision to use a completely IP solution instead of a traditional coax-based analogue system."
"With the IP approach, we managed to save around 75% of the installation labour time, compared to deploying an analogue system, and pass this cost saving back to the school. This significant saving was made possible due to providing low-voltage power via Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) over the system, negating the need for fused spur power sockets to be installed at each individual camera position, allied to the easier installation of the structured cable Ethernet backbone, versus the installation of multiple individual coax runs for each camera. Once we had installed the Gigabit Ethernet backbone, it was a simple matter to connect each camera to it via Cat6 cable."
"The intuitive set-up of the Panasonic i-Pro cameras also saved us a lot of time on-site, with the built-in MPEG-4 dual stream output affording high-resolution live and recorded footage from initial plug-in, and each unit is easily configured via the WJ-ND300A Network Video Recorder. In fact, the system was so easily set-up; we had cameras becoming active on a daily basis while we were on-site, and were able to capture footage of a number of minor student incidents that would have been difficult for the school to solve, had the high-resolution camera footage not been available."
Roger continues: "As soon as the internal cameras were installed, we were able to benefit from the coverage provided by high-resolution images, both in the deterrent their presence provided, and the irrefutable evidence they gave us. Even during the first months of the system becoming active, it was clear to me that an expansion to the system to cover the outside areas of our school would see these benefits applied here too, so once again, we approached Clarion with the idea of further expanding the external camera network."
In addition to new cameras, Clarion also equipped the monitoring room with the latest WV-ASM100 PC Management software, allowing live monitoring, recording, search and playback of recorded images from the expanded system via the Ethernet network and Panasonic WJ-ND300A NVR. From here, school staff responsible for the system can view all aspects of the school using the Panasonic end-to-end solution, as Roger explains: "The system has not only proved to be an invaluable security tool but has also provided multiple benefits associated with the daily running of the school. From a security perspective, it allows us to detect any unauthorised persons who may try to gain access. This could be as serious as members of the criminal fraternity looking for a way through our comprehensive access control system, or simply, friends of pupils trying to see their buddies at lunch and break times. Our perimeter fence and access controlled doors are locked during school hours with visitors reporting to the main reception. However, during the times when students are entering and exiting the site, such as at the beginning and end of the day and lunch times, we can use the high definition cameras to identify anyone who shouldn't be on-site, well before they get to the main building."
Thirteen Panasonic WV-NF284 internal IP cameras are installed at the school |
"We can also view the teacher and visitors car park, again identifying any individuals or vehicles that shouldn't be there. It also helps in the management of the car park, to identify any vehicles parked inconsiderately. Although the school does not have a major problem with anti-social behaviour, we are keen to use the system to protect our excellent reputation in the area for well-behaved pupils. Break and lunch times are the most likely periods for traditional schoolyard incidents to occur, such as minor altercations or other anti-social instances. Without the power of the CCTV system, we were restricted to the usual second-hand hearsay to solve these infrequent events, especially if they weren't witnessed first hand. However, now we can retrospectively investigate all footage from the playground, corridors and lunch/assembly hall, to obtain a crystal clear view of what really happened. This has helped dramatically cut the time that teachers spend investigating these instances, and has even reduced the number of incidents that occur in school time."
Easy system expansion
Due to the flexibility and expandability of the original Panasonic i-Pro solution, Clarion was able to add external cameras easily, and without any modification to the original scheme. Again, Roger specified the areas to be covered to Clarion engineers, who used the latest Panasonic i-Pro cameras to gain the maximum scene coverage from an economically sited camera network.
Chris Billinge explains: "Due to the expansive nature of the schools grounds, we were keen to provide a solution that would yield the most economical camera deployment possible. By deploying Panasonic WV-NW484 Vandal Resistant External IP cameras, Panasonic WV-NP1000 high-resolution megapixel IP cameras and a Panasonic WV-NW964 Vandal Resistant External High Speed Dome IP camera, we were able to use their market leading resolution to cover the maximum ground area possible with each camera. This afforded the use of fewer units, again saving installation time and money for the school. In fact, during the specification period of the system, we noted that to provide the same identification detail as one Panasonic i-Pro camera in both its wide-angle scene coverage and zoomed-in operation would have meant the installation of two traditional analogue cameras."
Future plans
With additional buildings already under construction at the school, Roger plans to integrate these into the highly successful CCTV solution, when their construction is completed, ready for the 2009 educational year - a task that will be readily achieved via the intuitive specification and ultimate scalability of the Panasonic i-Pro solution in place. As a modern and expanding educational resource, St. Wilfrid's School is taking full advantage of developments in the surveillance industry, to provide its students and staff with a safe environment in which to study and work. With a high-performance and expandable CCTV network at its heart, the school is set to continue to provide the children in the Diocese of Blackburn with a secure environment in which to promote the best quality of education possible, for many years to come.