BECKINGTON CHURCH OF ENGLAND FIRST SCHOOL - SCHOOL CLOSURE POLICY - SLP
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BECKINGTON CHURCH OF ENGLAND
FIRST SCHOOL
SCHOOL CLOSURE POLICY
Approved by Business Committee 22nd March 2016
Review January 2019
O:\Policies\School Closure Policy.doc[Type text] Page 1MANAGING SCHOOL CLOSURES
1. SCHOOL ACTION FOR ANNOUNCING AN EMERGENCY SCHOOL CLOSURE
2. ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE
3. TRANSPORT AND TRANSPORTING SOMERSET
4. FREE SCHOOL MEALS
5. VISITORS
6. ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION
7. SEVERE WEATHER CLOSURE CHECKLIST
This policy has been written to support Beckington School when faced with a period of
disruption or decision to close in the event of extreme weather conditions or other emergency
situations.
In circumstances where a school closure is required, the decision to close is a local management decision
made by the Headteacher in consultation with the Chair of Governors. Headteachers may contact (01823)
355953 for advice on whether to close. Schools must notify the Local Authority of a decision to close and
should follow the following actions:
School Action for Announcing an Emergency School Closure
Although the decision to close the school is made by the headteacher in conjunction with the Chair
of Governors, a senior teacher or nominated staff member that lives locally to the school may be
delegated the responsibility of making an early site assessment and consulting with the head and
chair of governors on a school closure decision.
Staff should log on to SLP (link below), and using their email user name and password post their
notification of closure or disruption (school closure details are found at the bottom of the page).
https://slp.somerset.org.uk/SitePages/Home.aspx.
The Somerset Learning Platform School Closure page has now been updated that allows schools to
post an update on the school status on a day where disruption may occur. This may involve
industrial action or weather related incidents and schools can now post a message to confirm
whether they will remain open, closed or will have the facility to partially open a school site.
O:\Policies\School Closure Policy.doc[Type text] Page 2 The following screen will appear. Please follow the guidance detailed in the green text boxes below.
Please enter the school name and location i.e. town or village in this field
1. Indicate whether your school will be open, closed or
partially opened in the Impact field.
2. Select the reason behind why your school is disrupted.
In the Reason for Closure field.
3. In the additional details box, provide a description of
the schools disruption (examples below)
Puriton Primary School will be closed today due to
snow
Castle Primary school will be fully open today despite
the industrial action
Brookside Academy will be partially open on the 15th
March due to a power failure. Classes 1, 2 and 4 will be
open, but classes 3, 5 and 6 will be closed.
Mark the Date Affected field
with date the school will be
closed or disrupted
Mark the School Reopens
field with the next working
day the school will reopen
Please note that if you upload your school closure in advance, the closure will not appear on
the SLP notifications board until the day of closure.
If the Somerset Learning Platform closure update does not work, please contact Steve Dorrall on
01823 355953 or 07585 307010, James Mitchell-Cassell on 01823 355759 or email
PressOffice@somerset.gov.uk with details of your closure.
Once you have posted your notice, your school will be added to the list of school closures on the
Somerset Learning Platform. If you submit a notification for a closure in advance, the closure will
O:\Policies\School Closure Policy.doc[Type text] Page 3appear in the ‘Upcoming Notifications’ page. A link to the school closure page is also available on
the Somerset County Council website and will appear on the day the school is closed.
Details of the school closure will be cascaded by the Business Support Team to all relevant
departments of the local authority, including Health and Safety, Learning and Achievement, Senior
Management Team, Insurance, Transporting Somerset and Council Members.
The school closure notice on the SLP will automatically disappear from the public closures list the
following day at 00:00 unless the closure is planned for more than one day and you select a period
over which the school will be closed.
The following radio stations will pick up school closures from the SLP for broadcast/publication on their
website:
BBC – Somerset Sound. 95.5 FM, 1566 MHz
Heart FM. 102.6 FM, 97.1 FM (Yeovil Area), 96.5 FM (Taunton Area)
Breeze FM. 100.8 FM, 102.4 FM, or 107.4 FM
Tone FM 107.8 FM (Taunton & surrounding areas)
In our School (Information for Staff)
In the event of severe weather or any other reason where the school has to close, the following procedure
will be put into place: -
1. At 7.15am Headteacher / senior teacher, and Chair of Governors will make a decision
regarding school closure. Factors to be taken into account when making this decision include
safety both within the school and access to it; number of staff able to attend safely; first
aiders. There should be at least 2 members of teaching staff able to access the school.
2. Once the decision has been taken not to open the school, the Headteacher will contact all
staff and the Caretaker.
3. A text message will be sent to all parents (before 8:15 a.m.) The School will contact
catering services (01373 453126/07976 222624 or 01373 461231) informing them of the
closure. The Headteacher will put a message on the school website.
Once details have been posted of our school closure, the list of schools will be freely accessible on SLP and
local media, such as the BBC. Other parts of the County Council such as Transporting Somerset will also be
able to get up-to-date information in this way.
Additional Guidance
1.1 Where possible, schools should make every effort to open. However, in cases of closure staff should
be prepared to attend school, providing it is safe to do so, or follow policy/guidance from the school
leadership team on alternative working. Normal absence reporting procedures will apply if
alternative working methods are not applied. There is no expectation that staff should report to
work at other schools.
1.2 Whenever a proportion of pupils arrive at school, and there are sufficient staff to cope with them -
even though not to provide the normal curriculum - pupils should be kept for the day, unless
conditions deteriorate. Where school transport is cancelled during the day, alternative transport
O:\Policies\School Closure Policy.doc[Type text] Page 4provision for pupils will be required, and staff must ensure that a safe collection/drop-off point at
either end of the journey is arranged.
1.3 The Business Support Group maintains a list of home addresses and telephone numbers for all
Headteachers, caretakers, key holders and Chairs of Governors, for use during emergencies.
Schools must contact Steve Dorrall or James Mitchel-Cassell of any of staff keyholder changes, as
the information is required by both the police and emergency planning service.
1.4 Health and Safety for staff, pupils and visitors on a school site remains of primary importance.
During periods of snow, schools must complete the slips, trips and falls risk assessment on the EEC
website, along with any other relevant risk assessments connected to the school environment during
the winter or periods of severe weather.
1.5 Schools are advised not to clear roads outside of their site as this is managed by Highways. If a
school did clear a road outside their site and an accident occurred, the school would be responsible.
1.6 If schools clear their own site of ice and snow, they are responsible for ensuring that cleared areas
remain clear of ice and snow to reduce the risk of slips, trips and falls. Schools are NOT to seek
voluntary support to clear a school site; instead, they can accept offers from volunteers and ensure
that a risk assessment is completed for snow clearance.
In the event of early closure
Every effort will be made to keep the school open; however, should early closure be necessary, parents will
be informed by text message. It is then their responsibility to arrange for their children to be collected. If
they wish for other parents/responsible adults to collect their children, they must inform the school. The
school will not release children to other adults without permission. The decision to close the school early
will be taken jointly by the Head Teacher and Chair of Governors.
Extreme Weather Conditions
The following guidelines should be considered in icy conditions:
Schools are advised not to clear roads outside of their site as this is managed by Highways. If a school
did clear a road outside their site and an accident occurred, the school would be responsible.
If schools clear their own site of ice and snow, they are responsible for ensuring that cleared areas
remain clear of ice and snow to reduce the risk of slips, trips and falls. Schools are NOT to seek
voluntary support to clear a school site; instead, they can accept offers from volunteers and ensure that
a risk assessment is completed for snow clearance.
Schools need to complete the slips, trips and falls risk assessment, available on the EEC website, along
with any other relevant risk assessments connected to the school environment during the winter or
periods of severe weather.
Schools are encouraged to regularly monitor road and weather reports for the local area taking into
account possible travel disruption and changing weather conditions.
Closures Due To Other Circumstances
In other cases (eg, failure of school heating, programmed) notification will be made in the same way via
https://slp.somerset.gov.uk
O:\Policies\School Closure Policy.doc[Type text] Page 5SEVERE WEATHER CLOSURE CHECKLIST
Action Name - Contact details Done
Identified person has made on-the-spot
assessment of situation and consulted with
Headteacher/Chair of Governors.
Contact Transport Field Officer to check
availability of transport if necessary.
Contact coach companies/taxi providers to check
availability of transport if necessary.
Add details of closure to Somerset Learning
Platform. This information will be picked up by
local media and an LA contact who will inform all
key agencies. Details of the closure can be
uploaded by a nominated member of staff using
their SLP login.
Include name and town/village of school and https://slp.somerset.org.uk/SitePages/
further information as appropriate, e.g., Home.aspx
whether partial closure, temporary change of
hours, etc. Do not include personal contact
details/auto signatures from email as it will be
published in full.
This information must be renewed daily as it is
automatically deleted at 00.00.
Check information has been uploaded onto
https://slp.somerset.org.uk/SitePages/
Somerset Learning Platform.
Home.aspx
Inform Staff and prompt alternative working
arrangements
Follow link below for service contact
Inform scheduled visiting staff - other visitors
numbers
Inform Parents – upload closure details to school
website/issue a parental text and arrange
alternative collection arrangements etc
Assess situation during the day/consider Business
Continuity arrangements
Update SLP. Messages will be automatically https://slp.somerset.org.uk/SitePages/
removed from the closures list at 00.00. Home.aspx
Inform Staff
Follow link below for service contact
Inform scheduled visiting staff - other visitors
numbers
Inform Parents Inform Parents – upload closure to
school website/issue a parental text etc
O:\Policies\School Closure Policy.doc[Type text] Page 6Confidential contact numbers for Somerset County Staff, Transporting Somerset, etc, can be obtained by
following the link given below (a login to Somerset iPost is required).
https://slp.somerset.org.uk/ipost/iPost%20Documents/Guidance%20for%20schools%20emergency%20contact%
20-%20App%20A.doc
It is recommended that a hard copy of these numbers is periodically printed for use in emergencies.
O:\Policies\School Closure Policy.doc[Type text] Page 7You can also read
