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Extreme Weather Arrangements

If the school cannot open for whatever reason, parents will be informed through Parent Group e-mail lists (held on SIMS's) and student e-mail, the school website and local radio (where necessary) (Heart FM, BBC Radio Devon, Radio Cornwall and Radio Plymouth). This information will be broadcast as close as possible to 7am.

A note about bad weather arrangements:

Firstly, whatever the weather conditions, please assume that the school will be open as normal. However, with variations in weather forecasts and contrasting road conditions across our large catchment area, it will always be difficult to choose the right moment to close the school.  We therefore cannot guarantee that such a decision can be made in time to meet the expectations of all our families, but we will endeavour to keep you informed in as timely a way as possible.

As stated above, if the school cannot open for whatever reason, parents will be informed through Parent Group e-mail lists (held on SIM's) and student e-mail, the school website, social media and local radio (where necessary) (Heart FM, BBC Radio Devon, Radio Cornwall and Radio Plymouth).  This information will be broadcast as close as possible to 7am.
 
If the regular bus your child uses to get to school is not running on any day because extreme weather, please do not instead deliver your child by your own transport.  In addition, if you live some distance from the school, please do not send your child to school if there is a foreseeable possibility that they will have difficulty in getting home safely later in the day.  Even if the school is still open do not send your child if you feel there is a risk to their safety in making the journey.

Bus companies and taxis will make every effort to honour their normal contracts, even if they arrive very late.  However, if they have to advise us during the day that local roads are about to close, then sometimes there is no safe alternative to early closure of the school so that both students and staff can get home.  Where this happens senior staff will remain on the premises until the last child leaves safely.

If the extreme weather arrives suddenly, please do not ring the school (unless it is an emergency) as this jams the school switchboard and prevents us contacting the bus companies who need to update us about any changes to student collection. Your daughter will make contact with you to inform you if they are leaving school early.

In the exceptional cases where the school has to be closed early and your child cannot get home, or you cannot collect them, please have an arrangement in place with a relative or family friend so that your child has somewhere local and safe to go.  This is a vital arrangement to make for children who live some distance from the school.  Please ensure that your child knows what this arrangement is in advance and it is recorded in their Planner to avoid trying to telephone them on the day with this information.

We would be grateful for your assistance with these arrangements for ensuring everyone’s safety.