Adverse Weather

Snow & Ice

OpenCheck

In the event of severe weather conditions, we have to consider key issues to make judgements about school closure. Closing the school is the very last option for us:

• We know that for working parents when the school has to close this presents problems with regard to childcare, so the decision will not be taken lightly.
• We have to weigh up many different risks regarding travelling to school, site safety and pupil supervision on site. Maintaining the level of learning is extremely important, but we have to balance that against the risks to our pupils and staff.
• We will liaise closely with our local transport companies and senior staff in neighbouring schools. We will monitor local weather reports and liaise with our staff members in outlying areas to assess the travel conditions that might be affecting those who come to school by car and bus.
• We will assess if we have sufficient numbers of staff on site to allow us to effectively supervise over 360 pupils.

To keep you informed:

• We will send a text message to all parents and staff if we are unable to open and will do this as soon (by 7:30am or 2:30pm depending on the situation) as we can make a reasonable assessment of the conditions. 
• We will contact Parents/Carers via Teachers2Parents text message, email and the school website.  We will also update LGfL Opencheck.
• If the school remains open during bad weather, as a parent you can make the decision about whether or not you feel it is safe for your child to travel to school.  If you feel it is unsafe for you to travel to school from where you live, please keep your child at home.  If your children’s absence is specifically due to travel problems caused by the bad weather we can record this absence appropriately. 
• As we only have a limited number of characters available for the texts, these messages will be short using RED, AMBER or GREEN alerts as outlined below.  If necessary, longer updates may be posted in the school website.

 

Entry to and from School

We intend for the school to remain open, however if there is considerable snow, entry and exit to the school may be restricted as follows:

All pupils - Enter the school via the gate to the school office, via Stanhope Road. All pupils will remain in the school hall until 8:50am when they will go directly to their classrooms with a teacher.  Lunch trolleys will be placed in the hall for children to leave their lunchboxes.

Children may wear wellington boots/walking shoes to school, but please ensure they have their schools shoes in their bags to change into when at school

At the end of the school day children will leave by this same route for collection - Y3 and Y4 will leave by the car park entrance gate, whereas Y5 and Y6 will leave by the pedestrian gate.  Please can parents avoid congregating around the gates as this delays the children being able to leave the premises safely. 

The usual pupil entrances will be closed if there is considerable snow or ice.

Pedestrian visitors - The pathway from Stanhope Road to the school reception/office will be made safe for any visitors on foot.

Permit Vehicle access – If you have permission to drive on site you may do so, but at your own risk. 

School closure during the school day

Parents will be notified via Teacher2Parents or the School website. We will also update LGfL Opencheck. If parents are unable to collect their children early for any reason, we will ensure those pupils are kept in until the normal end of the school day.

Any change to the normal collection points for children when closing early will be detailed within the Teacher2Parents communication and posted on the website.

Extreme Heat

Sometimes the temperature during the school day will increase to a notifiable level.  If this occurs, the school will take the following actions but we will not close the school for this type of weather condition:

• If it is a projected weather warning, children will be asked to come into school wearing sun hats, sun cream and with lots of water to drink during the day.
• The school will ensure the children are hydrated during the day by giving frequent hydration breaks.
• Playtimes and break times, we will reduce to the minimum time outdoors
• If sports days occur during these times, which are very often, sports days will be planned for the morning session when it is cooler and aim to be over by midday.
• The staff will keep the school ventilated by leaving windows open, early in the morning and closing them (leaving only a small gap) when the temperature outside becomes higher than inside.