November 2016
Dear Parents/Carers,
I am writing to you with reference to our policy for our response to extreme poor weather conditions. I am absolutely committed to keeping the school open as much as possible and not interrupting the education of our young people. However I am also mindful of my responsibility to keep our young people and staff safe at all times.
With this in mind I am writing to remind you of our tiered response to adverse weather conditions. When making a decision about opening the school we will consider the 3 following responses;
1) Weather conditions, though poor, are not deemed to present a much increased risk to young people moving around the site or staff and young people travelling in. School will open as usual.
2) Weather conditions are deemed to present some risk to young people moving around site and staff and young people travelling in. School will open at 10.00am to all students and a staff roll call will be taken at 9.30am. This will allow staff and young people to make their way safely onto site when roads are clearer and enable time for site staff to clear paths that staff and students will need to access when they are on site.
3) Weather conditions are deemed to present a significant risk to young people and staff moving around the site and to staff and young people travelling in. School will close to all students and staff.
This will be announced on Free radio and we will activate a telephone call system for young people who travel in daily. However, staff who live within easy reach of the site are encouraged to make a decision about whether they are able to travel safely onto site and offer their services to the Children’s Home managers, to support our colleagues in the bungalows. We expect that this decision will be communicated by 7.30am.
Parents of students who live off-site are encouraged to make a judgement about their young person attending school in adverse weather conditions when school is to open. It is imperative that families and transport providers are absolutely clear about how they will communicate about closures or timing changes. If scenario ‘2’ is in effect, it is up to parents to liaise with transport providers to alter the timings, it is also vital that transport companies have a clear plan of action should weather worsen throughout the school day or that parents/carers are able to collect their young person should conditions worsen. We are happy to consider flexible timings to avoid prolonged journey times and unsafe driving conditions at the end of the school day on any affected days.
Please be assured that the safety and education our young people is our absolute priority and we will endeavour to avoid any disruption wherever possible. We hope that a tiered response, allows us to maintain service provision in all but the most extreme circumstances, but are happy to discuss any individual concerns with you as they arise and respect your judgement based on conditions in your locality. If school is opening as normal we will expect all young people to attend as usual. If school is opening late and you deem conditions unsuitable for your young person to travel in, please contact the school and let us know of your decision to keep your young person at home.
I hope this is clear; should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Emily Hopkins-Hayes
Head Teacher