Hi-tech security coming to schools

Schools should consider using security guards, infra-red intruder detectors and closed circuit televisions in the wake of the Dunblane massacre and other violent attacks, ministers have recommended.

In a booklet to be sent to schools today, the Department for Education and Employment is asking them to assess whether they are at low, medium or high risk of such attacks or of burglary and vandalism.

Those which have suffered from problems such as trespassing, arson or other crimes or which are in areas with a high level of drug or solvent abuse should seek advice from the police and other authorities, it says.

The booklet follows the report of an inquiry set up after the death last December of Philip Lawrence, the head teacher who was stabbed to death outside his school in Maida Vale, north-west London, last December.

The inquiry was extended after the Dunblane shootings in March.