School and tutoring-centre security: access, pick-up, incidents

• One visitor entrance: parents, suppliers, technicians and prospective pupils all use the same staffed point.
• Visitor log: name, time in and out, who they are seeing, and a visitor badge that is handed back.
• Escort: visitors do not walk the classroom corridors alone.
• Suppliers and contractors: booked in advance, with work done outside lesson time where possible.
• Escape doors: locked from outside, free from inside — access control never blocks an emergency exit.

For the hardware — cards, codes, intercoms — see the guide to access control. For a tutoring centre on an upper floor of a block, the same rule applies at the floor door: someone sees who is ringing before it opens.

1. Set one drop-off and pick-up point, away from vehicle traffic, staffed for the whole period.
2. Ask parents in writing who may collect their child and how the school is told about a change.
3. If someone not on the list arrives, the child stays inside and the head contacts the parent.
4. In a dispute between parents, the gate does not decide who is right: it follows the head’s instructions.
5. Children not collected stay with a named teacher until a parent is reached.

The guard at the gate supports the school’s procedure; it does not replace it. Who collects a child is decided by the parents and the head, in writing.

• Lock-up: a checklist for doors, windows, computer labs and offices, signed with a name and time.
• Alarm: connected to an alarm receiving centre, with an agreed response to every signal.
• Patrols: yards and perimeter, time-stamped at checkpoints (NFC or QR patrols).
• Holidays: summer maintenance means open doors and outside crews — they need the same control as term time.

Article 18 of Directive 1/2011 calls for particular care, because children who grow up believing that being watched is normal lose something of their freedom. The Authority states that the Directive still applies alongside the GDPR and Law 4624/2019.

• Operating hours: cameras run only while the school is closed, and those hours are written clearly on the signs, so pupils and teachers know they are not recorded while they are there (§2).
• Exception: on large school premises where remote points cannot be controlled by milder means such as guards, the text allows cameras on those points during school hours,, and for this it provides for the Authority’s approval (§3). The Authority now states that under the GDPR no permit or notification is needed for video surveillance — so for this case, ask the Authority for its current position before installing cameras.
• Retention: deleted the next working day; on an incident, the rules of article 8 apply. Access only by authorised persons (§4).
• Who decides: the body that runs the school, after hearing the teachers, the parents’ association and the pupil councils where they exist (§5). The need is reviewed at least once a year (§6).
• Nurseries: images may not be streamed to parents over the internet (§9).
• Signs: before the camera’s field of view, naming the controller, purpose and contact (article 12). Never used to evaluate teachers or other employees (art. 27 Law 4624/2019).

School hours are covered by people — reception, the gate, supervision — not by cameras.

• Injury or illness: first aid by a trained person, a call to EKAB (emergency medical service) where needed, then the head and the parent.
• Unknown adult on site: a polite approach, escort to the entrance, the head informed; police if the person refuses to leave or there is a threat.
• Missing child: an immediate search of the site and exits with pre-assigned roles, the head and parents informed, and the authorities without delay.
• Fight or bullying: separate the children and call the responsible teacher; the investigation belongs to the school.

The guard works for a company operating under Law 2518/1997 and needs a personal work licence, category A or B (article 3). What they may do is not improvised: it is written in the post orders and agreed with the head before the first shift.

• Contents: time, place, what happened, who was informed and when, witnesses, actions taken.
• Discretion: initials or a reference number instead of children’s names where that is enough.
• Video: if after-hours footage relates to an incident, decide the same day to keep it; otherwise it is deleted the next working day.

OVIT records rounds, incidents and actions with time stamps, and management sees patrols, incidents and reports in one live picture through the Guardly platform. For the structure of a report, see the guide to the incident report. For your school or tutoring centre, request a proposal.