Emergency School Closure

These are our procedures if the school needs to close unexpectedly. 

If we know before the start of the school day, we will try to send a text message to all parents alerting them to the situation.  However, if we are closing because of a power cut this may not be possible.  We will also advise local radio stations (BBC Radio Solent, Heart South Coast, The Coast, The Park FM and Wave 105).  Information will also appear on our website and on Hampshire County Council’s website at: http://www.hants.gov.uk/education/schoolclosures/.

If a closure is forced upon us during the school day we will ask those students with their own mobile phones to contact their parents to seek permission to leave school at a given time.  We will then ask the student to pass the phone to a member of staff who will confirm with the parent that they agree to their child leaving the school site.  If students do not have their own phones, a member of staff will call parents.  On previous occasions, we have always been able to arrange for school buses to run early and this information will be shared with parents at the time of the phone call.  

Where we cannot make contact with a parent, we will work our way through the list of emergency contacts.  If we are unable to make contact with a parent or any of the emergency contacts, some students can make their own arrangements to go home with a friend.  We would allow this to happen only if we have spoken to the friend’s parent and we would then seek to leave a voicemail message or send a text to alert you to the situation. 

If none of the above actions were to be possible, we would make arrangements to supervise the child until the end of the school day and then dismiss them as normal.