All schools have an emergency procedures protocol in place in the event that they have to close the school due to unforeseen circumstance or bad weather. It may be necessary to temporarily close one of, or all of our schools for a variety of reasons. These include:

• Severe weather including snow, flooding or storms
• Severe travel disruption that may mean staff numbers are insufficient and staff to pupil ratios can not be met
• Accommodation problems, for example loss of power supply, heating failures or fire damage
• A major incident in the locality of the school where emergency services or the local authority have advised the school to be closed

The school should, however, endeavour to remain open where possible. School contingency plans would be passed on to staff, parents and pupils.

School leaders must consider the health and well-being of the children, but always start with the ‘how can I’ rather than ‘we are not allowed’.

Staff deployment

Should a school close to pupils the expectation is that staff report to their usual place of work unless it is deemed unsafe to do so. This is decided by the headteacher.

If a school closes staff are expected to report to their closest open ELAN school, or one they can access safely via their own/public transport or by foot. In the case of closure due to non-weather related issues or where there is no travel risk, the headteacher of the closing school will inform their staff where and when they are to report.  Staff arriving at schools where they do not normally work will be under the direction of the headteacher of that school.