A Derby window coverings firm has provided blinds for 11 schools in the past year as part of a Government drive to make educational institutions safer from potential terrorist attacks.

Raynesway Blinds, based in Derby Road, Chaddesden, has reacted to a spate of orders from Derbyshire schools to install blinds in response to counter-terrorism guidance from Westminster.

The non-statutory guidance was issued in a report to schools by the Department for Education in April 2024, following the introduction of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. Since then, Raynesway Blinds has been inundated with calls for its services from schools including Royal School for the Deaf Derby, in Ashbourne Road, Brackensdale Spencer Academy in Walthamstow Drive and High Grange School on Hospital Lane.

The schools have been advised on low or no-cost ways to increase security and be better prepared and more able to respond to terrorism and other major incidents such as bomb threats.

Guidance includes the appointment of dedicated ‘Security Leads’ among staff, teaching pupils the principles of ‘Run, Hide, Tell’ and practicing lockdown drills, which may include the closing of blinds so that pupils are less visible in the event of an external attack.

Tony Hales, director of Raynesway Blinds, said:

“Schools have for years installed curtains and blinds for a number of reasons, not least to shield pupils from bright sunlight to aid their comfort and learning or to provide blackout capability, perhaps for school plays or classroom presentations."

“But the issuing of counter-terrorism guidance by the Department for Education last year has clearly spurred many more schools than usual to replace, upgrade or install new blinds. We have responded to each and every request, whether it be direct contact from the schools or as a recommendation from other contractors."

“It’s quite rewarding to learn how well our blinds can support this commendable drive to keep school pupils and staff safe in these often scary times.”

One Derby school, Royal School for the Deaf, has recently had 10 of its rooms fully fitted with new vertical blinds by Raynesway Blinds. The move follows upgrades and repairs to existing blinds in another nine rooms.

The new installations, a combination of vertical blinds, tapered vertical blinds and cellular ‘perfect fit’ blinds, cover a total area of more than 450 sq. metres of windows. Regulations demand that all blinds are fire-retardant.

Paul Burrows, headteacher of Royal School for the Deaf Derby, said:

"We have a long-standing relationship with Raynesway Blinds, and they are our first port of call. The team there offer good customer service, they are reliable and competitive on pricing."

"With regards to school security, there has to be a balance between keeping children and staff safe, and scaring them. These things don't happen often, but schools need to focus on prevention, with proper procedures, signage, training and of course blinds."

"Blinds can act as a barrier between viewing young people and equipment in such incidences."

"You do everything you can to create a safe school environment and all schools have to formulate their own plans due to their own considerations. For us here, we have to consider that alarms need to be visual."

Other schools that have benefited from the professional supply and installation services provided by Raynesway Blinds include Shelton Infant School and Church Broughton Primary School.