On snowy days our school will make every effort to stay open but sometimes we must close or partially close if it’s unsafe for pupils and teachers to attend.
Our key objective during the worst weather conditions is to open school on a site that is safe and adequately staffed. When we experience ice or snow our first priority is to assess whether we can make the site safe enough for adults and children.
If, on the rare occasion our school is closed due to severe weather, we will text parents as soon as the decision and post this on the Home page.
Alternatively, please listen to BBC Radio Merseyside (95.8FM) or Radio City (96.7FM). DO NOT phone the school as there may be nobody to take your call. If you have not been contacted, if the website is clear and if we are not listed on the radio then we are open.
Please then check the school website throughout the day for important updates and details of when school will re-open. If our school does decide to temporarily close during severe weather, we will contact parents through google classroom to provide remote learning for pupils until it is safe to reopen.
We will obviously try to give parents as much notice as possible but sometimes decisions may be made quite late as circumstances change. Decisions to close will be made locally based on common sense and there are a large range of things that we have to consider
Staffing: This could include where staffing levels can’t be met because transport issues are preventing teachers from getting to work.
Can the site be made safe for children, parents and staff?
Will we have sufficient staff to meet safe and appropriate adult: child ratios?
Can we provide meals at lunchtime?
Are external agencies e.g. police, LA, motoring organisations advising against travel?
Other examples include safety conditions around the school, temperatures in school buildings and more.
Although we keep up-to-date with forecasts and weather warnings, some snow and ice conditions can be quite localised. There may be severe snow or compacted ice around school but little where you live.
Parents should not send their children to school if they believe it is unsafe to travel and instead, they should inform the school as soon as possible to let us know their child will not be attending and why, in line with the school’s absence policy.
If heavy weather conditions on a particular day mean that we have to close school early, we will contact parents through text and the website with details of the early closure. We, of course, appreciate that there may be a delay between you receiving the message and getting to school so key members of staff will remain on site until all of the children have been collected.