School will always remain open unless otherwise communicated.

Lonsdale School has an emergency procedures protocol in place in the event that the school has to close or run a shortened day due to unforeseen circumstances. It may be necessary to temporarily close part or all of our schools for a variety of reasons.

These can include:

• Severe weather, including snow, flooding, storm or heat
• Severe travel disruption or levels of staff absence that may mean staff numbers are insufficient to support the pupils’ needs safely
• Accommodation problems, for example loss of power supply, heating and water-supply failures or fire damage
• A major incident in the locality of the school where emergency services or the local authority have advised the school to be closed

The school will always endeavour to remain open where possible. School contingency plans would be passed on to staff, parents and pupils.

School leaders must consider the health, safety and wellbeing of all pupils and staff on-site.

The decision to close the school is taken by the Headteacher in consultation with the Chair of Governors and based on the school’s dynamic risk assessment of staff availability and site-safety issues.

If there is a need to close or run a shortened school day, we will communicate this in the following ways:

• We will put a message on our school website stating that we are closed or run a shortened school day.
• We will email all parents.
• We will send a SchoolComms text notification to all parents.
• We will contact all parents by phone who have not read their message.
• We will liaise with the HCC SEND Transport Team, who will re-arrange school transport with their sub-contractors for all entitled children and young people.
• We will inform HCC of the school closure.

We expect our parents to contact the school if there are difficulties with collecting their child or receiving their child at home. Our parents are expected to make reasonable efforts to put in place alternative arrangements.

We will always try to give as much notice as possible to parents regarding having to close the school, but often decisions are made depending upon whether staff have managed to get to school from their homes, for example in adverse weather or severe travel disruption.

If school needs to close before lunchtime at 12.30pm, we will try to ensure that pupils have had a snack and drink before travelling home.