Internal CCTV cameras should be an essential feature in every school, according to the headteacher in charge of one of the country's newest comprehensives. Sheffield's King Ecgbert School has recently been relocated to new purpose-built premises and Head Teacher Bob Evans finds the Vista CCTV system to be invaluable. "As far as I'm concerned, it is not a luxury - it is an essential."
There are two elements to the use of internal CCTV, he says. "It helps protect our pupils from unauthorised people entering the buildings as well as recording any misbehaviour by the students themselves."
King Ecgbert School educates 11 to 18 year-olds in the newly-opened premises, built under the government's Private Finance Initiative. Luton-based Tagging Systems Ltd has installed dozens of Vista colour dome cameras feeding into Vista hard disk recorders.
Bob Evans emphasises that the use of CCTV does not mean that King Ecgbert is a rough school. "There are high disciplinary standards and we would class ourselves as one of Sheffield's highest-achieving schools."
Most schools would benefit from a similar system, he believes. It can help prevent problems such as theft or bullying and catch the culprits if anything does happen. His pupils are taking very good care of their new school, he adds. "They are very proud of it - and they also know they would be spotted by the cameras."
Cameras cover areas such as corridors, classrooms, IT rooms, libraries and dining halls. They are also in the toilet areas, positioned to maintain privacy. "We decided to use small dome cameras throughout, with vandal-resistant ones in the toilet areas," says Tagging Systems Ltd Director Michael Cyganek. The cameras are a mix of three different Vista models, all of which are unobtrusive. Most are colour fixed domes (VFD4V9CE), with the remainder made up of ceiling or wall mounted vandal-resistant models (VVRD4V9C and VVRD4V9C-LP).
Special cabling was needed as the system is networked. Four, 16 and 32 channel network video transmitters are used (NV-1662R, NV-452R, NV 3262R) as a conversion for the building's CAT 5 network cabling. This avoids the need to run a co-axial cable from each camera.
Camera footage is recorded digitally onto two models from the Vista Triplex™ digital video recorder range (VC10TE 320 GB and VC16TE 320 GB) and is accessible by authorised staff via the computer network. Incidents can be watched live or as a recording.
About Tagging Systems
Luton-based Tagging Systems was formed in 1997 and became a limited company in 2002. The initial focus was on anti-theft tagging equipment in retail stores, but customer demand soon led to an expansion into CCTV. By 2000, cameras had become the core area of the business. The company has now installed systems at sites across the UK including Southampton, Folkestone, Norwich, Wales, Manchester and Glasgow. Tagging Systems uses a network of engineers around the country to ensure a prompt response for its customers no matter where they are.
About Vista
Vista is the UK’s premier brand of CCTV equipment. Vista focuses exclusively on the development of high quality, functionally rich and competitively priced CCTV products.
