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Controlled access to nursery school

Carole Melia, nursery school owner, has recently taken over and completely transformed the Old Yellow Brick Road Day Nursery, in Mossley near Manchester, UK, into the Fire Station Day Nursery, complete with its very own fire engine called Jupiter.

Melia and her team have invested in the nursery to ensure that it offers the best, and safest, environment for children in their care.

The business is a day nursery school for children. The security issues Melia faced included controlling access to the building by being able to identify who is allowed to enter and which areas they are allowed into.

The existing system was an audio intercom. The weaknesses with the system were that:

* Nursery staff had to leave the children while they went to answer the door.

* On rainy days parents were left standing outside in the rain.

* There was no way to control the way that parents were only allowed into the areas/zones where their children’s age group was located.

The installation of the access control system was part of an overall upgrade to the premises.

“We have invested in the nursery school to ensure that it offers the best and safest environment for children in our care,” says Melia. “Controlsoft’s fingerprint solution makes us stand out from other nursery schools in our area. It gives a clear message that we take security seriously and that is why we have invested in a cutting edge technology solution.

Benefits of the solution include:

* Security – only people who are enrolled in the system can gain access to the building. Fingerprint recognition ensures that only authorised people can enter.

* Zoning – people can only access the areas via biometric readers where they are given access rights.

* Time saving – nursery staff can spend more time with the children because they do not have to leave them while they go and answer the door.

* Customer convenience – parents are not left standing outside (in the cold or rain) while they wait for a staff member to open the door. They now use a finger to identify themselves and open the door so they do not have to remember a pin number or carry a card/keyfob.

* Record of events – the Controlsoft Bio Software keeps a record of the date, time and who went where.

Controlsoft Bio Software is installed on a PC with a local fingerprint enrolment reader which is connected via USB. The software is used to enrol the parents into the system and to assign access rights – which doors they can enter. There are six fingerprint readers installed on six different doors.

Melia made the decision to install a fingerprint system based on the fact that there has been a lot of media coverage in the UK about fingerprint systems being installed in children’s day nursery schools. She then contacted a local security installation company that provides Controlsoft access control solutions. Six MA-100 fingerprint readers with Bio software were installed.

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