Closure
Snow Days and School Closure
The decision to close the School will be made by the Headteacher in consultation with the Chair of Governors, and having spoken to other colleagues and taken advice from the local authority as appropriate. The decision to close the School due to bad weather will be only taken if one or more of the following apply:
- We have sufficient notice that a majority of the School coaches are not able to operate
- Insufficient numbers of teachers are able to attend School to provide adequate supervision
- The conditions on the School site are such that the health and safety of users would be compromised
The decision will not be taken lightly. Whilst we have a legal obligation to provide education on as many days as possible, this has to be balanced against the risks to the health and safety of staff and students travelling to School and/or on the School site.
The earlier the decision can be made the more convenient it is for everyone. However, this has to be balanced against the possibility of making the “wrong” decision i.e. making a decision to close the School the night before to find that conditions improve considerably or are not as bad as predicted.
It will be extremely unusual to decide to close the School the night before.
We are acutely aware that closing the School will impact negatively on other businesses, as parents may either have to stay off work to supervise their children, or leave work to collect from School in the case of an early closure.
Equally closing the site does not further the education of the students.
To minimise the damage to the education all departments have prepared some suitable work for the students which will be available on the website.
A “Snow Day” is not an additional holiday for staff and they are expected to perform preparation and other administrative tasks at home or school.
Once the decision has been made other members of the SLT will be involved in notifying key people, in Central Bedfordshire, the School and local press.
We then have an obligation to keep parents fully informed.
The answer phone message will be changed immediately as will the web site; the latter will be updated to give information about the next day as it becomes available.
If we are open, a message on the web site will state which coaches we know are not operating, with advice for those students not to travel unless they are sure of a lift home, possibly at short notice during the day should the School have to close.
In the event of School closure, Bedford College have requested students should not attend the College.
 Snow Days & School Closure policy.pdf | [Snow Days and School Closure Policy] | 18 Kb |
