On rare occasions severe weather can lead to the emergency closure of schools and nurseries. It is the Education Department’s aim to maintain as full an education service as possible in times of emergencies. Following an assessment of the situation, in consultation with the Education Department, a decision will be made on whether or not to close. The health and wellbeing of pupils and staff will be the first consideration.

 

If the weather should deteriorate rapidly during the night then the decision to close the school may be taken before school starts in the morning. If this should happen, please check our school website, East Renfrewshire Council’s website or our School and East Renfrewshire’s Twitter feed for the most up to date information. Please be advised that should the school remain open then it is ultimately the parent’s own responsibility to ensure the safety of their children coming to and from school and if you feel that your personal circumstances make it unsafe for your child to attend school or nursery on that day then of course you must make that decision yourself.

 

In the event of snow, it would be useful if the children walked whenever possible. Driving conditions are very tricky around the school at all times but especially so during inclement weather and anyone getting stuck in snow will cause major disruption in the area.

 

If conditions deteriorate during the school day, and we are required to begin the closure of the school and nursery, the following procedures will take place:

• You will receive a text message informing you that the school and nursery requires to close. This information will also be put immediately onto the school website and twitter. Please understand that each school has a unique location and set of circumstances so if you hear that other schools or nurseries in the area are sending pupils home, please wait until you hear from us directly via a text or on the school website that we ourselves are beginning this closure procedure.
• It is really important that in any severe weather, parents and carers make every effort to regularly monitor the ERC and school websites. These will be regularly updated with any important information.
• If this notification is given, please don’t panic at all but it would be helpful if parents/carers were able to get to the school and nursery as soon as possible bearing in mind your own safety at all times. If you do need to communicate information to us in these circumstances, please use the email facility to try to avoid our phone lines becoming jammed.
• Parents who arrive at the school and nursery will be able to collect children via the main entrance for the school and main entrance for both Nursery buildings. Staff will arrange for your child/children to join you ready to be taken home.
• However, come 3 o’clock we will allow all school pupils who haven’t yet been collected and who normally leave school at 3pm to do so and to make their way home as usual if we have not had communication from their parent during the day requesting us to hold onto them beyond 3pm. This is of course to ensure that children who are expected by their parents to arrive home shortly after 3pm do so and as such there is no cause for undue concern. No nursery pupil will be allowed to go home unsupervised, and without contact with parents
• As I’m sure you will understand I also have a duty of care to my staff and as such must request that we are only asked to hold onto any individual pupils beyond 3pm if there is no other option for the safety of your child and you absolutely cannot get either home or to school by 3pm and there is nobody living locally to the school that you can make arrangements with to collect your child. This is to allow me to send my staff home as early as possible to ensure I keep their safety in mind as well.
• Please note that if your child uses MACS or other after school services, they have their own procedures in place and you would be required to communicate arrangements with them directly.
• Should the school require to remain closed for any period of time due to heavy snow or other adverse weather conditions, please refer to the school website and Twitter feed, East Renfrewshire’s website or East Renfrewshire’s Twitter feed. These will be updated each morning, as early as possible, with all relevant information.
• You will all now be familiar with the resources available via Google Classroom, but both our school website and pupil Glow pages have links to useful educational websites and resources that will allow your children to keep learning should they get tired of playing and having fun in the snow!

 

Hopefully we will not need to put the above arrangements in place. However, I hope you will find the information helpful and I ask that you ensure your child/children know what arrangements you have made in the event of school closure. Please ensure you keep us up to date with emergency contact information. This will help us to keep your child safe. If there is anything that you would like to discuss regarding the information above, please don’t hesitate to contact the school office.