Attendance

If your child is unable to come into school due to the poor weather, there is no need to telephone the school to inform us of this. Instead of a phone call please report their absence in the usual way by using the Portal.

Clothing

Pupils coming into school may wear wellingtons or shoes with better grip. They should then change into their normal shoes once in the school building.

Drop off

If it is at all feasible to come to school on foot, families are encouraged to do so in order to reduce congestion. Those arriving in this way should keep to the cleared pathways to gain access to the school and change out of wet footwear (to avoid slipping), on entering the building.

Transportation by bus

If there is any anticipated disruption to your child’s School Bus Service due to adverse weather, you will receive communications from Zeelo advising you of such.

The school day

Where possible, the timetable for the day will continue as normal. Any updates will be communicated to parents via email; please check whether emails from school go into your junk folders. Parents should only collect pupils early if their local weather conditions suggest that it may be difficult to leave collection to the normal time. It is very likely that on a day of such major disruption, there will be limited (if any) after-school provision.

For those pupils who attend, we will provide the best educational programme possible. However, it is possible that several staff will not be able to make it in. Therefore:

• We will combine classes if necessary.
• We may not be able to run a normal teaching timetable. A suitable and worthwhile programme will be drawn up appropriate to the staff available and the pupils present.
• We will ensure that the needs of pupils are met as effectively as possible.
• The school will provide a cooked lunch as normal, although we may have to draw in help from other Foundation kitchens. Nevertheless, the dietary requirements of all boys will be adhered to as carefully as they are on a ‘normal’ day.

Collection at the end of the day will be managed according to the conditions, though if possible, we will stick to normal collection times and arrangements. Again, we will update parents with any changes to collection arrangements.

School closure during the day

Where weather conditions deteriorate during the school day and the safest option for all is an early school closure (a decision being made by the Heads), information will be communicated to parents as soon as possible. Parents should endeavour to make arrangements to collect their child from school as soon as possible, but at the latest, by the time given that the school will close. Parents of children who use the School Bus Service will receive communications from Zeelo updating them of any changes to their child's bus route.

School closure remote provision

If the decision is made to close school, wherever possible work will be set for the examination year groups (Year 10 - Upper Sixth) for lessons taught on that day, although it is understood that it may not be possible to complete this on the day set if, for example, their folders/textbooks are in school.

For Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 pupils work would not normally be set for a one-day closure and we would encourage them to enjoy the snow. There are some suggestions for reinforcement work in core subjects listed in the Academic Information Booklet posted on MySchool Portal. should parents wish for their son to do some work (which is, of course, applicable at any time of the year).

If the school has to close for a second or third consecutive day due to bad weather, then lessons will be taught remotely where possible and/or work will be set through Microsoft TEAMS.

Whilst we hope that we will not be required to action the plan, we thank you in advance for your co-operation.

Yours sincerely,

Mr James Barker