St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School

Schools face common access challenges, including managing entry of staff and contractors, as well as students, on top of ensuring security without impacting the ability to provide a welcoming learning environment. The team at St. Joseph’s identified early on that a traditional master key system was not going to deliver the flexibility and ease of management desired. They engaged their security supplier to provide electronic options, and subsequently implemented Salto Space.

St. Joseph’s is running the Salto Space solution, which is a fully integrated, stand-alone smart-locking platform. It comprises of wireless and hardwired locks which are operated through an on-premises software management system. The initial installation covered 37 doors and the main perimeter gate, with products including the XS4 One escutcheons, Design XS Wall Readers, and Mullion Readers.

Following a security incident, the school is now looking to expand and enhance their installation.

Lockdown keeps staff safe

St. Joseph’s Principal, Troy Rickard, tells of a time where the Salto system effectively protected staff from violent intruders.

In July 2024, at 4:01pm, two violent intruders were identified on campus. Thanks to automatic door scheduling already having locked the entry points, the intruders could not access the offices. However, to ensure safety of his staff, Principal Troy Rickard initiated Salto’s Lockdown feature from the school’s central Duress button.

This immediately locked all access points on campus, both internally and externally. No staff could exit into a dangerous area, as much as the intruders could not enter a building - so there was nowhere from them to go but back out of the school. Meanwhile, staff were also out of harm’s way and could not confront the intruders.

Of the incident, Rickard explains, “Salto is incredibly effective. We weren’t reliant on a staff member or teacher needing to action anything. Between the door schedule and lockdown, it was all automatically taken care of.”

The incident has shifted how St Joseph’s think about security. Troy Rickard explains, “The incident has changed the way we think about our Salto electronic access system at St Joseph’s. We’ve seen how it can play an active part – rather and simply an automated part – of keeping everyone safe. We are exploring ways we can expand and tailor the Salto system to further meet the needs of our school.” 

Shane Robertson, Salto Certified Partner from Sentry Locksmiths, has been engaged to expand the system. He adds, “Rather than a passive and automated system, we are looking at how Salto can play an active and deliberate role in St Joseph’s security and safety plan. This includes enabling specific users to initiate from a mobile device and manage the feature per area or per classroom, as well as installing more access points.”

Troy Rickard concludes, “Ultimately, the added features will help us attract new students to our school, as we can assure parents that safety management is an active and advanced part of our value proposition to students.”