Extreme Weather & School Closure
I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of what happens in the event extreme weather.
We will always endeavour to open in bad weather, however if the weather is extreme I also must give careful consideration to the safety of children, families and colleagues travelling to and from school.
If the weather is extreme then there are three options open to me:
- to open school as normal
- to open school with a later start time
- to close school completely
A decision will always be based on the information available to me, including weather information and official advice from the local authority and emergency services.
I will also take account of what neighbouring schools are doing – and it is often the case that there is a flurry of calls between Headteachers very early in the morning of a day when we all face extreme weather conditions.
I repeat, our priority is to provide our children with an education, and so our aim is always to open.
We will use the Parentmail service to contact parents/carers by text AND email – to inform you of our decision. This is one of the reasons why it is important to inform us of any change of details (including mobile telephone numbers and email addresses).
If your details are NOT up-to-date, please contact us as soon as possible!
We will also share information on our website: www.st-johnfisher.org.
We will also notify the local authority and BBC Radio Sheffield and details of the arrangements will be shared on to their websites.
We will only notify the local authority and BBC Radio Sheffield if we have a later start or are closing earlier. Please note that we will not notify them if we are opening as normal.
Sometimes when we are open weather, conditions deteriorate during the school day. If this happens, we will use Parentmail in order to notify parents/carers that school is closing earlier. Again, we will update the website and also contact the local authority and Radio Sheffield.
We do not normally contact parents and carers if school is open as usual.
Late Start
A decision on the time of the late start will be made on the day depending on the information available to me. Typically, a later start time is either 9.30am or 10.00am. This means that children can arrive right up to the later start time without being marked as ‘late’ in the register. Children can also be dropped off before the later start time and will be looked after by staff inside school, where it is warm. KIDZONE will operate as normal, and will contact customers directly or through our Parentmail service if their information changes.
Early Finish
The timing of an earlier finish will again depend on the weather conditions and the information I have to hand. We will contact parents/carers and ask you to arrange for the children to be collected as soon as possible. If children are left, staff will obviously remain to care for them until they are collected. However your cooperation is expected and appreciated because if the weather becomes particularly difficult I also have to consider how my colleagues will get home safely once the children are collected. If children are just left with us, it could cause significant additional problems.
If you are not contacted and there is no information on the three websites then it is safe to assume that school will be closing at the normal time. No need to phone.
Phoning School
We have one telephone line. In the event of extreme weather, it is therefore VERY important that parents/carers read the text messages and emails sent to them and refer to the information shared on the school, BBC and local authority websites - rather than just call in.
It is important that the phone line is left as free as possible so that colleagues are able to make/take important calls.
In the past, the line has been clogged up by some parents/carers phoning school merely to confirm information already shared via text/email, or to ask if school is closing early etc before a decision is made.
Please help us by only calling if it is important or an emergency. I thank you in advance for your support and cooperation.
