Secondary school in Aylesbury Vale set to install CCTV in toilets

CCTV cameras will be installed in the toilets at a popular Aylesbury Vale secondary school to combat vandalism and anti-social behaviour.
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John Colet Secondary School for boy and girls in Wendover, which currently has 1,040 students, already has cameras monitoring other areas of the school, but from the beginning of next term will also have them in the toilets.

The cameras will be fixed and pointing only at the wash basins. They will not be able to see inside the cubicles.

Earlier this month, headmaster Patrick Harty wrote to all parents and students detailing the plans, citing vandalism and anti-social behaviour as the reasons, and asked for feedback. Only 29 people responded – 24 in support – and so the initiative is going ahead.

John Colet School in WendoverJohn Colet School in Wendover
John Colet School in Wendover

Mr Harty said: “The idea is not to watch what's going on in the toilets particularly, but should an incident occur we've got that recording to look back to for 30 days."

"Occasionally there's damage to the toilets, to the doors and so on, not all the time by any means, but that cost mounts up."

Concerned parent Tom Mayer, who has two children at the school, was one of the five people who opposed the plans.

As well as writing to the school to express his “strong opposition” he also spoke approached The Bucks Herald with his concerns.

He told us: “Every school on the face of the earth, in every country for the past 100 years, has trouble with kids writing on the walls in bathrooms. It's not a new problem and it seems to me like a weird over-reaction."

Mr Mayer added: “It's a private space.”

Headmaster Patrick Harty said to us regarding this: “Once you go into a cubicle that is a private space, but toilets in schools are not private places – they're places where other students go.”

In his letter to the school Mr Mayer wrote that he felt teachers should be using their combined experience “to build a supportive school culture based on firm boundaries and compassion rather than rely on invasive technology to manage behaviour.”

The headmaster also provided the following statement: “John Colet School consulted all students and parent/carers on the proposal to install CCTV to view the washbasin and main entrance to the student toilets as a measure to ensure appropriate behaviour at all times in all areas of the school. 79% of the responses were positive with the main area of concern being that it was an invasion of privacy.

“In an email to the school community last Friday, I addressed this issue: 'The CCTV cameras will be in fixed positions facing the entrance and sink areas and not look into the cubicles and, in conjunction with cameras that already exist to monitor corridors, will provide information, should it be needed, for incidents to be investigated. Any recordings will be used as set out in the school's CCTV procedure which is available on our website.'

“We will continue to be sensitive to the views of students and parents once the installation is complete.”

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