Helston School & Community College

At Helston School and Community College the learning, achievements, attitudes and well being of every young person matters. Radun assisted the school with meeting their objectives by providing them with Sentinel Electronic Registration.

Sentinel was installed at Helston School and Community College in Cornwall during the summer of 2002 and now caters for over 1,400 pupils and staff. Each member of the school is given a coded identity swipe card that is passed through a magnetic swipe card reader at any of the 114 control points.

Originally the system was chosen for lesson by lesson attendance in the 6th form, however the Head Teacher soon realised the benefits the system had to offer for the whole school. A quote was given for both sites and the decision was for Sentinel to be installed throughout the school. The system can produce many relevant attendance reports including daily absences, three-day absences, a weekly summary, and all DfES required statistics. As a result of the increased information that can be obtained, unauthorised absences can be immediately identified and the whereabouts of students can be tracked.

Shortly after installing the Sentinel system Helston School’s absence figures unexpectedly increased. They soon realised that it wasn’t because more children were absent, it was because Sentinel had reduced the degree of error in attendance monitoring and it had highlighted the true figures. “Using cards puts the onus of registration on the student, and each successful swipe is recorded automatically in the Sentinel database for a detailed audit of student attendance. Human error eliminated.” says Roger Watson, General Manager of Radun Controls. Unauthorised absence is now going down. In fact the unauthorised absence level was as low as 0.1 in 2003.

Helston School and Community College consider regular attendance as a vital part of pupils progress in school. The National average for pupil attendance is 95% and they strive to ensure that their pupils attain and exceed this level. Even the parents are enjoying the benefits of our system. They have the ability to ring up and check that their child is in school at any time of the day, bringing peace of mind to the parents. The school can also contact the parents with regard to any potential unauthorised absence. The Sentinel system helps the school and parents work together to reduce truancy and increase safety.