The decision to close a school due to bad weather is taken by the head teacher rather than Leicestershire County Council. Before making the decision, the head teacher considers how the following factors impact on pupil and staff safety;
- the local weather conditions,
- the weather forecast
- road conditions
Please see DFE guidance on school snow closures for more information.
How the process works;
- Head teacher decides to shut school – this decision is made as early as possible to ensure parents can be made aware as soon as possible.
- School Office will use Arbor messaging to inform parents of the school closure. (Please ensure you have the most up to date contact information on file).
- School will put the message onto the website via the live Instagram link.
- Head teacher may also contact BBC Radio Leicester who will include our school closure as part of their list of closed school. BBC Radio Leicester 104.9 FM (www.bbc.co.uk/radioleicester)
Predicting the weather is often very difficult, we often don’t know when we might be affected by severe winter, however we can take steps to ensure that we are prepared when severe weather happens.
Every effort must be made to keep schools open, even if only limited numbers of pupils can attend. There is a legal requirement to keep schools open for children to attend for 190 days per year. However, schools may close due to “unavoidable” circumstance, which are usually health and safety reasons. Unavoidable circumstances are those that mean it is no longer safe for staff or pupils to be onsite.