Touchless school access control

Issue 2 2022 Editor's Choice, Access Control & Identity Management, Integrated Solutions, Education (Industry), Products & Solutions

Wolverhampton Grammar School, founded in 1512, is an award-winning co-educational independent school. The campus is located west of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom and provides education through year 13 (ages 4-18) across Junior School, Senior School and Sixth Form. The school was awarded the Independent School of choice for parents who want approachability and a human dimension to education and judged ‘Excellent’ in all areas by the Independent Schools Inspectorate.

The school was experiencing issues with the security software stability. The legacy system had frequent errors locking up the access and therefore the customer wished to solve the system’s shortcomings and deploy face stations at main locations to build a secure environment.

The solution decided on consisted of:

• Suprema provides central management and therefore it is possible to integrate access control to all doors by restricting, enabling and targeting individuals’ access.

• Paxton Net2 Plus ACU (Access Control Unit) provides controls for each door allowing more robust control over security infrastructure rather than a single unit multidoor controller.

• Suprema’s BioLite N2 devices and FaceStation F2 were installed at the key site entry points helping to prevent Covid-19 through contactless access control.

• The installation was relatively straightforward, with the compact design of the readers having a minimal impact on the building’s exterior.

• Suprema enrolment readers make it simple for the school administrator and IT manager to enrol people in multiple site locations, since it is straightforward to manipulate and enrol individuals’ credentials.

• Suprema integrated seamlessly with Net2 via a single data entry point in the software. Whenever new credentials are added, the data is automatically synchronised across the system database.

• Through the ‘Airfob’ patch, the customer can send Airfob invitations via email to all staff and students, enabling their mobile credentials to be added to the system prior to visiting the site. This ensures staff and students can access the site without delay with no requirement to remember or issue traditional card access.

• Mobile credentials also remove the cost of card renewal and provide a more secure way to maintain the security of the building.

• The Suprema solution is fully compliant with GDPR providing reassurance that both the site and the data is secure and encrypted.

Key benefits experienced by the school include:

• The site access is now more efficient, cost-effective, secure and safe with Suprema’s integrated security infrastructure ensuring system stability.

• The flexibility and ease of use for visitors, students and staff led to improved user satisfaction. It eliminated the burden of frequent code changes and carrying physical cards or keys which can often be misplaced or misused.

• Suprema’s new advanced devices provide full compatibility with the existing system, seamlessly connecting with the existing access control backbone.


Fast facts

Location: Wolverhampton Grammar School, UK

Year of completion: 2021

Application: Access control

Technology: Biometric mobile access, facial recognition:

• BioLite N2-ODB

• FaceStation F2-DB

• BioMini Slim 2

• BioEntry W2-OAP

• Paxton Net2 Plus

• Suprema integrated with Net2

• Airfob Patch

Project size: 36 locations with biometric readers, 900 users


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