North Lincolnshire, UK, is home to the St Lawrence Academy, a school for students aged 11-16. Currently undergoing an expansion, the school sought an access control system to enhance security for its pupils and staff and can be extended as the school grows.
St Lawrence Academy approached Advanced IT Services with the requirements, and they suggested Paxton10, a forward-thinking access control and video management system.
Advanced IT Services is an end-to-end IT solutions provider that has over 20 years of experience in the education sector and has installed Paxton security products for over 10 years. They support schools and councils nationwide, providing solutions from access control and video management to IT support.
At the beginning of 2023, St Lawrence Academy looked into installing a new access control system as they established their own Multi-Academy Trust (MAT). The main requirements were to be able to access the system remotely, the ability to administrate multiple sites with varying groups of users, and that it has the potential to be integrated with other products and systems to maximise functionality.
Ashely Woodward, Project Manager at Advanced IT Services, said: “Paxton is our go-to product for any of our client’s access control requirements. We usually introduce Net2 for our education clients, however, as this client is beginning the journey of becoming a MAT, we suggested that the rollout of Paxton10 would provide a good opportunity.”
The Paxton10 system combines video management and access control. Using its online user interface, administrators can manage and monitor a site’s security from any device with an internet connection. With Paxton10, access control management can be easily scaled up to 100 sites with 1,000 doors, 1,000 cameras and 50,000 users on a single system.
Ashely said: “Paxton10 presents an exciting opportunity for both our client and us. The modern and user-friendly web interface allows administrators to manage sites with ease. The system is simple to use, so system users can be trained easily.
“The system has been overwhelmingly well-received by the client’s network manager.”
Another benefit that Paxton10 has brought to St Lawrence Academy is the Multi-site feature. It will allow them to expand the system as more schools join the trust.
Ashely explains: “The Paxton server is located within our own internal Data Centre, which means adding additional sites to the system can be done easily and quickly without the need for VPN access.”
Advanced IT Services started with a four-door trial with Paxton10, before installing it across 30 doors with 166 managed users. The system successfully isolates the Trust offices on site from the main school buildings and manages pupil access, creating a secure area. In addition, if any pupil is late to class or absent, system administrators will get notifications, and the pastoral teams can act quickly, ensuring there’s no emergency and pupils are safe.
There are plans to expand Paxton10 when more schools join the Trust. The St Lawrence Academy also plans to integrate Paxton10 into other systems, further upgrading the functionality of the access control solution.
Ashely adds: “Over the next few months, we will be installing a Bodet tannoy system across the site, which will be fully integrated into the Paxton10 system. This will allow a button press to announce a lockdown and lock all associated doors simultaneously.”
The installation and configuration of Paxton10 has been a success at the St Lawrence Academy, and Advanced IT Services is confident in introducing Paxton10 to their other customers.
Ashely said: “We are keen to continue rolling out Paxton10 across both our public and education sector clients.”