There may be unusual circumstances which will require a decision to close the school, either whilst pupils are on the premises, or in advance if predictable. It is important that all staff and parents, the Education Office and the transport companies are aware of the emergency procedures. This document summarises these procedures for parents.
The main principle in the procedures is that the children have to be cared for by a responsible adult throughout.
It is in the nature of emergency situations that not all eventualities can be accounted for in advance. The Head Teacher or the Chairman of Governors may need to recommend or approve actions not covered in the procedures.
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS PLAN
This describes the ways in which an emergency will be communicated to parents.
LOCAL RADIO BROADCAST:
Three Counties Radio 95.5, 103.8 or 10.45 FM
TELEPHONE PLAN:
The school Governor, transport company and the radio station will be notified first. Then a person (Class Representative) in each class will be notified, who would then contact another Class Representative. Then the two Representatives would contact the parents on their lists. Thus each Representative would need to contact up to 20 parents.
When more than one child from the same family attends the school, the Class Representative for the youngest child will make the call, but will confirm that both children need to be collected.
UNABLE TO CONTACT PARENTS:
In situations where it has not been possible to contact the parents, and there are no alternative contacts, the school will be notified and a member of staff or Governor will follow up with alternative numbers and contacts.
TELEPHONE NUMBERS AND ALTERNATIVE CONTACTS:
Parents will be asked to provide emergency daytime telephone numbers, alternative numbers and alternative people who could collect the children, should this be necessary. Parents will be able to choose whether this information is passed to Class Representatives.
This information will be kept up to date by an annual request for confirmation of the details.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR CHILDREN IN AN EMERGENCY:
Parents are asked to ensure their children are collected from school within an hour at the most, given the emergency circumstances.
If parents request that their children are asked to walk home by themselves, permission for this has to be given by either the Head Teacher or the Chairman of the School Governors.
DAGNALL CHILDREN:
It is the responsibility of parents of Dagnall children to ensure that their children are collected by the bus in the morning. There should be a mechanism organised by Dagnall parents to alert parents if the bus does not arrive, and thus ensure the safety of the children.
COUNTRYWIDE OVERNIGHT EMERGENCIES SUCH AS SEVERE SNOWFALL:
In general, it should be possible to get the message out quickly enough to avoid any children arriving at school, through the use of radio messages and the telephone plan.
OVERNIGHT EMERGENCIES SPECIFIC TO EDLESBOROUGH SCHOOL:
Examples include power failure or burst boiler. To provide earliest possible notification, the local radio station will be asked to put out a message.
Telephone messages will be sent out using the telephone plan.
Children who arrive at school will be looked after until they have been collected. THIS IS EXPECTED TO BE NO MORE THAN ONE HOUR.
EMERGENCY CONDITIONS ARISING DURING THE DAY:
These conditions will in general be unknown to parents, with the possible exception of heavy day-time snowfalls that prompt early closure of the school. Again, to provide earliest possible notification, the local radio station will be asked to put out a message.
Telephone messages will be sent out using the telephone plan.
Children who arrive at school will be looked after until they have been collected. THIS IS EXPECTED TO BE NO MORE THAN ONE HOUR.