RE: Procedures for inclement winter weather

If the school is able to remain open

If severe weather is forecast, our Site Manger will grit a pathway from back gate (Beacon Close) to the main building. Please supervise your children carefully and only use the path when you drop off and pick up, as it is impossible to clear the entire playground and some areas may well be slippery and dangerous.

Children will need to wear appropriate clothing– hats, gloves, coats and waterproofs. Wellies or a change in footwear is advisable, as we may allow them out to play in the snow for short periods if we deem it safe enough.

The delivery of hot lunches may be affected so as a contingency it would be wise to provide your child with a lunch in these circumstances.

If we make a decision to close the school

We will only close the school in the event that it is not a safe place to be. Safety levels will be judged on:

•           The number of staff, most importantly teachers who are able to make it safely in to school. Most of our teachers live many miles away and this makes it less likely that they can travel in the event of dangerous roads.

•           In Pre-School, if we cannot maintain the correct ratio of staff to children we will have to close, even if the main school remains open.

•           Site safety. If the severity of the weather means that we are unable to keep key pathways clear of snow or ice.

In the event of heavy snow falling once the children are already in school and there looks to be a significant risk to pupils and staff getting home safely we will issue a message to all parents and carers to collect their children immediately and start to scale down the school provision to allow staff with the furthest or most hazardous journeys to leave at the earliest possible opportunity.

Communication

As soon as the decision to close has been taken, we will put a notice on the school website: http://www.holtspursch.co.uk  and we will contact parents via the School App (therefore please keep a close eye on this during periods of weather that may force a school closure), a text message and an email to maximise the chances of parents picking up the information.

Additionally, our closure will be posted on the Bucks CC website https://closures.buckscc.gov.uk 

We will use the same methods of communication to inform parents when the school is reopened.

Occasionally, the decision to close may happen at shorter notice than we would like due to uncertain weather conditions. If there is a possibility of this happening, we will put a warning on the website and via the school app the night before so that you can prepare a contingency plan should it be necessary.

Please contact WrapAround directly in the event of bad weather.