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Kingswood Secondary Academy

Ofsted Good

Bike Security

Regrettably we have had 3 cycles stolen from the Academy site in the last few weeks. We have therefore arranged for Police to attend the Academy on Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 November during the lunch break (12.50pm to 1.30pm) to apply a permanent and unique number to each bike.  This information will then be registered on the National Cycle Database.  This may assist greatly in aiding recovery in the event of theft.  We would recommend pupils take advantage of this registration to help protect their bike.

We are liaising with the Police and have passed some images and names to them of local youths we believe might be involved.  We do everything we can to make security on site as robust as possible, but sometimes this is not enough to deter or prevent determined and organised thieves i.e. bolt croppers were used on one occasion to remove the padlock securing the gate to the bike sheds.

So what more can be done to prevent thefts and avoid personal financial loss as the Academy can not accept responsibility for personal items brought onto site that are subsequently lost, damaged or stolen?  On 2 occasions the bikes that were stolen were not locked in the bike sheds.  Whilst we do lock the gates during the day it is essential that a good quality and robust bike lock, designed to resist cutting/sawing, is also used by pupils to secure their bike to the racking.  On the other occasion a bolt cropper was used to cut through a bike chain.  A lock should also prevent the bike being removed at the end of the Academy day by someone other than the owner when the gates are opened.

We will continue to monitor CCTV footage (but if hoodies and scarves are worn it is very difficult to identify would be thieves) and liaise with the Police but the simple and relatively inexpensive method of using a good quality bike lock is usually enough to prevent a theft.  We shall also be looking to ask the Police to come in and security mark pupil bikes.

Thank you for your support in this matter.

  • Ofsted
  • NOS
  • NOS 2
  • Career Mark
  • DofE
  • London Institute