SEVERE WEATHER PROTOCOL

In the event of disruption caused by heavy snow the prime concern of the school must always be the safety of our pupils, staff and parents/carers.

 The decision to close the school will take account of the safety of all our pupils and staff, including adequate provision of school lunches. We will always endeavour to open the school in the event of bad weather, as long as it is safe to do so.

In the event of bad weather, parents should check to see if the school is open before travelling to the site. There are a number of ways to confirm whether the school is open or closed;

• By visiting the School Website https://www.stmaryssw.org.uk/ where a message will be displayed in the scrolling banner (at the top of the Home Page) from 07:45am;
• By visiting the school website and going onto the School Closure Page by following this link https://www.stmaryssw.org.uk/school-closure-page/ by 07:45 am.
• Parent mail (T2P): a parent mail will be issued to all parent/carers by 07:45 am

If the school is closed, we will try to decide as early as possible, and will intend to re-open as soon as we can, at which point the school would then activate its remote learning contingency plan so that pupils can be taught at home (as soon as we are safely able to do so).

If the school does open, but extreme weather develops during the day, we will aim to remain open until the end of the normal school day. However, this is not always possible when roads are becoming treacherous. In which case parents will be contacted and asked to collect their children as soon as possible. Under these conditions we will take verbal permission for their child/children to be collected by a nominated adult. Normal lessons may be curtailed and the remaining pupils assembled in groups under the supervision of authorised members of staff to await collection.