What kind of school closures are there?

• Emergency– where the building cannot open as there is no hot water, the heating is not working or power failure.
• Planned– Where the school building is closed for elections, industrial action or when utility companies are doing planned maintenance work to gas, water or electric services in the area and all services are to be shut off. Schools are notified in advance of these closures and Headteachers will notify Parents/Carers of these closures.
• Severe Weather– Headteachers will make the decision locally to close where severe weather prevents the school from opening.

How will I find out if my child’s school is closed?

• The most efficient way is via the school through their Groupcall text message and email service.  Please make sure that your school has up to date contact details from you.
• Headteachers will make the decision as early as possible on the night before or day of the closure and will contact you once this is confirmed. Messages from Groupcall, will be automatically sent to your mobile phone and/or email account.
• Schools may also use other methods of contacting Parents/Carers, such as school bag mail.
• Please note that text alerts and email issued via mobile network providers, may be delayed where there is high volume on mobile networks or the internet. Therefore, you should also make use of the other communication channels referred to on this page.

When will I receive further email or text alerts?

• You will only receive text alerts when the status of a school changes. The first text/email will be sent when the school closes and a further text/email will be sent only once the school reopens. If a school remains closed over more than one day, there will be no further automatic alerts until the school reopens.

My child has recently moved school?

• If your child has moved to a new school or from a primary school to a high school, you should ensure that the new school has your consent to use your email and mobile number details to send you messages relating to school closures.

SEVERE WEATHER

What can Parents/Carers expect in cases of severe weather?

• The Education Service aims to maintain service delivery during severe weather and to minimise disruption to pupils and Parents/Carers.
• Where necessary, Headteachers will close their school as early as possible on the first morning of severe weather, to allow text/email alerts to be issued as quickly as possible.
• On very rare occasions, there may be the need to implement a blanket closure that may affect parts or all of Fife.  Updates will be provided through the communication channels below.
• Janitorial staff will prioritise the clearing of one pathway per school as an access route for all building users. This may not be your usual route into the school and it may not be the quickest route through the building.
• Where there is heavy snowfall in Fife, resources will be deployed to the worst hit areas and therefore the clearing of playgrounds and car parks will not be a priority until all schools are open.
• It may not be possible to have all School Crossing Patrol Officers on duty during the worst of the weather. You should make arrangements to ensure the safety of your child to and from school.

School being open is important but in the context of severe weather, the safety of staff, pupils and parents takes priority. There may be times when we can open but only with a skeleton staff in the school (made up of those who can make the journey safely to school and sometimes other Fife Council teachers who live nearby but can’t make it to their own schools) – when this is the case, we may ask you to keep your child at home if you are able to (for example if you are not at work or are working from home) – this is to keep the numbers low so that they school is safely staffed.

What are the main channels of communication during severe weather?

• By Seesaw, text or email– make sure that you provide your mobile number and email address details to the school office so that we can contact you by Groupcall
• Online– All the news and information you’ll need is online. Visit fife.gov.uk and click on ‘News Centre’ for up to date information.  Also, check the website of your own school.
• Follow–uson Fife Council Facebook  and twitter.com/fifecouncil.
• Listento Kingdom FM, Forth One and Tay FM.

If you wake up to snow fall or any other type of severe weather (including if there is a red weather warning), please do the following:

• Only make a journey to school if it is safe to do so.
• Monitor the weather during the day and collect your child if the journey from school to your house looks like it will get dangerous before the end of the day.
• Keep your child within your care until you know for sure that school is open at 9am – don’t drop them and go.
• Look out for texts from the school – remember they will go to the parent you asked us to name first and any additional parents added in special circumstances – if you are not the parent who usually gets Groupcall texts and emails from school, please make sure the parent who does get them is looking out for them and will communicate with you.
• Be prepared that school may close at short notice and have a contingency for picking your child up.
• Please understand that all staff will be making a journey to work in difficult circumstances and we will be doing our best to communicate with you and get the school open.
• Please don’t call the school office to ask for information, it will come out via Groupcall text when we are able and lots of phone calls coming into the office can slow this down.
• Please reply to texts asking you to confirm that your child is at home, even if you have kept them at home on advice of the school. We will make sure we know that every child is safe as a priority so need you to confirm where your child is.

How can my child continue with their studies when the school is closed?

• Teachers will communicate learning arrangements via Seesaw for P1 – P4 pupils and Teams for P5-7 pupils.
• We have robust systems in place to ensure minimum disruption to learning.

When school does close, for whatever reason, you can choose activities from our Family Learning pages to support your child’s learning on the day at home. There will be occasions when we can send more specific information for each class but this does depend on the circumstances of the closure. Click here for more information.