ID Card Supplies for Schools: What You Actually Need

# ID Card Supplies for Schools: What You Actually Need

Every September, schools across Ireland scramble to get ID cards sorted — staff badges, student cards, visitor passes — and every September, the same question comes up: what do we actually need to buy?

The answer depends on your school's size, budget, and how far you want to go with identification. But the core supplies are the same whether you're a two-teacher primary or a thousand-student secondary. Here's a practical breakdown.

Staff Photo ID Cards

This is the starting point. Every school should have photo ID for staff — it's a basic safeguarding measure, and it makes visitor management much easier when everyone who belongs in the building is clearly identifiable.

What you need:

• A card printer — an entry-level or mid-range printer handles staff cards comfortably. You're printing maybe fifty to a hundred cards a year, so you don't need anything heavy-duty. Our printer bundles include everything for a school-sized deployment.
• Blank PVC cards — standard CR-80 blank white cards. A box of 500 will last most schools several years.
• A colour ribbon — YMCKO (full colour + overlay) for photo ID cards. One ribbon typically prints 200-300 cards, depending on the model.
• ID card software — for designing and printing the card layout. Most printer bundles include basic software. If you need something more capable (database integration, batch printing), standalone software packages are available.
• Lanyards and holders — staff lanyards in a consistent colour, with card holders to protect the printed card.

A complete setup — printer, ribbon, cards, software, lanyards, and holders — can be up and running for under a thousand euro. That's a one-time investment; annual costs after that are just consumables (ribbons and blank cards) and replacement lanyards.

For help choosing a printer, see our ID card printer buying guide or our top picks for 2026.

Student ID Cards

Secondary schools and colleges increasingly issue student ID cards. They're useful for more than just identification — library access, printing credit, exam verification, and general campus security all benefit from having a standardised student card.

The printing process is the same as staff cards. The volume is higher, though, so plan your consumables accordingly:

• 500-student school: Budget for two colour ribbons and a box of 500 blank cards per year (allowing for replacements and new intake)
• 1,000+ students: Three to four ribbons and a thousand cards is a safer estimate

Timing matters. If you're printing student cards for September, order supplies in June. Ribbon and card stock ships quickly, but printer servicing or a new printer purchase takes longer — and everyone orders at the same time in August. We see the same rush every year.

Student cards take more punishment than staff cards. Teenagers bend them, scratch them, leave them in pockets through the washing machine. Two practical measures help:

1. Print with an overlay panel — the "O" in YMCKO. This adds a thin protective layer over the printed surface that significantly extends the card's life.

2. Use rigid card holders — a hard plastic card holder protects the card better than a soft sleeve, and students are more likely to keep the card visible if it's in a holder on a lanyard.

Visitor Identification

Tusla's Children First guidelines are clear: schools need to know who is on their premises. A visitor identification system doesn't have to be complicated, but it does need to exist.

The simplest effective approach:

1. All visitors sign in at reception

2. Each visitor receives a visitor lanyard — a pre-printed lanyard in a bright, distinctive colour that's clearly different from staff and student lanyards

3. The lanyard is returned when the visitor signs out

That's it. No technology required. The lanyard makes visitors immediately identifiable to anyone in the building — a teacher walking past someone in the corridor can instantly see whether they're a signed-in visitor or someone who shouldn't be there.

Pre-printed visitor lanyards are inexpensive — a pack of fifty costs less than a textbook. Keep a stock at reception and replace them as they wear out or go missing.

For schools that want a more formal system, printed visitor badges (temporary adhesive badges with name, date, and who they're visiting) add another layer. You can print these with a basic label printer or even the same card printer you use for staff ID.

Contractor and Volunteer Badges

Schools regularly have people on-site who aren't staff, aren't students, and aren't day visitors — sports coaches, after-school club leaders, IT contractors, maintenance workers, parent volunteers.

These people need something more visible than a verbal "they're grand, I know them." A contractor badge with the person's name, a photo if possible, and an expiry date is straightforward to produce. Print it on a blank card, pop it in a card holder, and issue it against Garda vetting documentation at the office.

The colour of the lanyard should be different from staff, student, and visitor — so you end up with a simple visual hierarchy:

• Staff — staff lanyards (one colour)
• Students — student lanyards (another colour)
• Visitors — visitor lanyards (a third colour)
• Contractors/Volunteers — a fourth colour or a distinctive pattern

Browse our full range of pre-printed lanyards to see what's available.

The Shopping List

Here's a practical checklist for a typical secondary school setting up ID cards for the first time:

One-time purchases:

• Card printer (or printer bundle with software and starter consumables)
• ID card design software (if not included in bundle)

Annual consumables:

• Blank white PVC cards — 500 to 1,000 depending on student numbers
• Colour ribbons — two to four depending on volume
• Cleaning cards and kit — one cleaning kit per year minimum

Ongoing stock:

• Staff lanyards — replace as needed
• Student lanyards — budget for 20-30% replacement annually (they break, they get lost)
• Visitor lanyards — keep 50+ at reception
• Card holders — rigid holders last longer than soft sleeves

When to Order

The school calendar drives the timeline:

• May/June — Order printer, software, and initial card stock if you're setting up for the first time. Get the printer in and tested before the summer break.
• Late June — Print staff cards before teachers leave for summer.
• August — Print new student cards once you have enrolment data and photos. This is the crunch period.
• September — Issue cards, distribute lanyards, top up visitor lanyard stock at reception.
• January — Mid-year check. Reorder ribbons and blank cards if stock is low. Replace worn lanyards.

The worst time to discover you're out of blank cards is the first week of September with three hundred new first-years waiting. Order ahead.

A Note on Blank Cards

Not all blank cards are the same, and it's worth getting this right. For standard photo ID without any electronic function, plain blank white PVC cards are what you need. They're the cheapest option and work in every card printer.

If your school also uses access control — door readers on the main entrance, say — you might want cards that combine photo ID with access control credentials. That's a slightly different purchase. See our blank cards guide for the full breakdown, or read about access control in schools for the bigger picture.

If you're not sure what you need, get in touch. We supply schools across Ireland and can put together a list based on your student numbers and requirements.