South Craven School recognises its duty of care to all those working on the school site. Whilst efforts will be made to keep the site open, there may be occasions when, in the interests of the health and safety of students and staff, the site is closed.
Any decision to close the school early will be made in conjunction with the relevant authorities. As soon as such a decision is made, the bus and taxi companies, which provide usual school transport, will be contacted and transport will be requested. As you will appreciate, this will take time, but the advice given to all students who normally use school transport will be to wait in school until their bus or taxi arrives. They will be supervised while they wait.
The village which is most easily affected by bad weather is Lothersdale. On more than one occasion the transport provider informed us they needed to send the coach early to ensure they could reach the village. If this happens we will alert all the children who use the service and get them onto it as quickly as possible.
If there are any special arrangements which need to be made for your child, please make us aware of these in writing, addressed to your child’s head of year.
Students in Years 10, 11 and Sixth Form will be dismissed if they know that they can get home safely. We recognise that older students may make their own arrangements and it is important that they discuss these with parents and guardians in advance.
Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 will only be allowed to leave school if they usually walk home and, even then, they must be able to assure staff that someone will be at home when they arrive; if not, they will be advised to wait at school.
With regard to those students who are usually picked up from school by car we will ensure that students can make contact as quickly as possible. We do realise that the severity of the weather can vary throughout the area and if parents decide it is necessary to pick up their child we will, of course, release the child even if the decision to close the school has not yet been made.
If there is severe weather in the morning, local radio will carry announcements and information will be placed on the school website. If school transport is running, students should take the bus to school as normal, where the situation will be assessed. Under no circumstances should students get off the bus on the way to school.
If severe weather occurs before the start of school, parents may access information via:
- The school’s website homepage (www.southcraven.org). If we are to close, any specific reasons for this along with any notices relating to scheduled events (such as open evenings, trips or public examinations) will appear here.
- A decision will be made at around 6.30am whether to close the school or remain open. This decision will be advertised on the school’s homepage.
- Even if we remain open, the bus companies may decide they need to alter or cancel some of their services – we will publish any messages from them on the website as soon as we are made aware of them.
- We may reverse our decision and decide to close – we would therefore always advise students to check this website for the latest updates (including changes to bus routes) before they leave home.
- A voice mail message will be placed on the school’s answering machine.
- BBC Radio Leeds and Fresh FM will also be informed and they will announce it periodically.
- Students should always assume that school will re-open the following day as normal unless we indicate otherwise.
Where school remains shut for more than one consecutive day, the Remote Learning Policy will be used and work will be provided for students to complete at home.
