Classroom critical

One of Barack Obama’s favourite sayings about having children is that it is “like having your heart walking around outside your body”. Now imagine what it must be like for teachers and headteachers – who for a huge chunk of the working day are responsible for the well-being of dozens, if not hundreds, of children.

Given the above, it’s little surprise that Kevin Golding, applications manager at South Midlands Communications (SMC), says his company has had “quite a lot of enquiries over the last few months” from schools, generally regarding how to deal with the kind of incidents that require a lockdown and the protection of those inside without evacuating the premises. Golding describes the latter as the “absolute worst thing you want to do if someone’s got a gun”. He highlights the need to send alerts out in a discreet and covert manner and cites the way that the SMC Gateway can integrate with email in addition to two-way radio and mobile telephony.