Borough schools to beef up security before new anti-terror law takes hold

Schools in Caerphilly County Borough will be told to beef up physical security around their sites rather than rely on CCTV as a deterrent.

The council’s education committee heard how Welsh schools inspectorate Estyn has recommended site security be made a priority.

It follows the passing of Martyn’s Law – new UK anti-terrorism legislation which will require large premises to consider how they would respond to an attack.

The council will look at school fences and add measures such as intercoms at access points, “so we can make sure that if anyone comes to the school gate, the site is secure and only people who are expected on site are allowed in”, senior officer Andrea West told the committee.

Director of education Keri Cole said Estyn is “concerned that children are safe in school” and had found “cases where there are no barriers between strangers coming onto a site and being able to encounter a child”.

She said the 1996 Dunblane massacre – when a gunman killed 16 pupils and a teacher at a Scottish primary school – was a tragic example of “how quickly a stranger was able to get inside a building”.

Ramping up physical security would “make it more difficult” for unauthorised entry onto school grounds and “buys valuable time for schools to be able to contact police”.

Ms Cole said Caerphilly Council had “screened” the borough’s schools and drawn up a priority list for improvements.

Schools had also “demonstrated confidence around practising lockdown procedures”, she added.

Cllr Carol Andrews, the cabinet member for education, explained the work would be financed using funds currently spent on school CCTV.

A report describes the use of cameras in the borough’s schools as having “limited effectiveness and inconsistencies”, with only six police requests for footage in the past two years.

Parent governor representative David Bezzina told the committee he welcomed the reallocation of the funds, but Cllr John Roberts said he was “not comfortable with withdrawing money out of CCTV”.

He said cameras were a “complementary tool” for other security measures.

“It helps with site security, it helps with pupil and staff safety,” he added. “Some schools might need this more than others.”

Ms West said schools could continue to fund their own CCTV systems, and executive director for education Rob Hartshorn defended the council’s plans.

“This isn’t a question of us pushing something onto schools, it’s just a direction of travel,” he said. “The advice that Estyn has from counter-terrorism policing… and is including in their inspections is they’re advising schools [on] moving away from CCTV, and we’re responding to that.”

Martyn’s Law, or The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, received royal assent in April 2025, and is likely to be subject to a two-year implementation period before it comes into effect.