We like to think of our schools as havens of innocence, free spaces in which children can explore a world untouched by harsh reality. But across Europe these days, more and more of those explorations are being closely monitored. At the Portchester School in Bournemouth, a town with one of the lowest income levels in Britain, 986 boys in uniforms and ties pass nine closed-circuit lenses in the corridors as they move between classes. Three exterior cameras mounted on 5-m poles swivel above the school's parking lot and playing fields.
School facilities manager John Floyd watches the screens...