Dear Parents/Carers
As we have received notification of local weather warnings being upgraded to ‘Amber’ for Thursday and Friday please be advised of the procedures in place as per our website. Information can be found under the ‘Parents’ tab, under the heading, ‘school closure’. We will also use the ticker tape message that runs at the bottom of the website page.
We are hoping to remain open throughout this spell of adverse weather but please be assured that the health, safety and well being of children and staff will be at the centre of the decision.
The following points are taken into discussion with the site manager before a decision is made
Is the school site safe for pupils and staff? This includes heating, grounds and levels of staff who can administer 1st aid.
- Are the roads and pavements around the school safe for pupils/parents and staff?
- Will the catering company be able to deliver our hot school meals?
- Can a sufficient number of staff get to school safely to maintain the correct levels of staff to pupil ratio in all areas of the school?
- In this instance, does the weather forecast suggest that further heavy snowfall is likely during the day? This point is more difficult to predict as I have to take into consideration pupils and staff being unable to safely get home to their families.
As normal procedure, all staff contact the school from 6.30am – 7.30am to inform us if they cannot attend work. Many staff do not live locally to the school and some live in rural areas, therefore if their local schools close and their own children require supervision, this then has a knock on effect to our staffing levels.
We will endeavour to stay open, hopefully the adverse weather will miss us but please keep informed via the website.
Best wishes and stay safe
Mrs Prout
