Information Regarding Emergency Closure of Upham CE Primary School

On the occasion of a planned or current closure, information (including planned re-opening) would be provided below.

Remote learning will be added to the Remote Learning Tab on this website as soon as staff are able.

See 'Overview of our Current School Closure' page under the 'News' Tab.

Hampshire County Council Schools Emergency Closure Website

Upham School Closure Procedure

What could cause an emergency closure?

A snow fall does not mean we will automatically close. Many of you may remember days in the past when it snowed. We dressed children up snugly and everyone had a fantastic time playing (and learning) outside. The issue would be how heavy the snow is, how icy it may be, the temperature, the effect the snowfall may have had on the building and on the roads and the nature of the forecast.

The school would only need to close:

• If adverse conditions result in a failure of the heating system or other key utility, resulting in a building unfit for reasonable use.
• If adverse conditions result in difficulty for members of staff getting to school, which could cause an insufficient number to provide adequate care for the children.
• If the safety of the building/ site or access to it was compromised.

The decision to close is not taken lightly and is based on a clear risk assessment of the situation in the context of advice received from Hampshire County Council regarding weather reports, road clearance and utility issues.

How would we communicate an emergency closure to parents?

In the event of a closure, our primary aim is to communicate this to parents as soon as is possible. We have a number of communication channels available to us and we will endeavour to use them all but please bear in mind that some may fail. Parentmail for example can become very slow when hundreds of schools are all trying to use it at the same time, so please try to use the measures in combination.

If the closure is known the day before, then written letters, email, parent mail as well as a notice outside school would be used. If a decision is made on the morning of a closure (which is more likely) then the following measures would be used (wherever possible):

• Closures will be recorded on the Hampshire website (link above) (Likely to provide earliest notice)
• BBC Radio Solent, Heart South Coast, The Breeze, The Coast and Wave 105 broadcast the names of schools closed.

• The school answer-phone will have a recorded message.
• The school website will be updated – at the top of this page.
• A board will be displayed at the front gates.

Should the situation continue and subsequent closures be needed, the same measures are used but our school website and the Hampshire site will be updated with more information.

It is of course worth remembering that this procedure would be used for any emergency closure, not just as a result of snow eg a burst water main or a complete heating failure. Should a hazardous emergency occur when the children are on site, such as a gas leak, we would put into place our emergency evacuation plan whereby everyone would leave the school and relocate to The Blessed Mary Church where we would begin contacting parents. We had reason to test this procedure a few years ago year when a prolonged power cut meant after 6 hours the fire-alarm system was no longer operational and the building was therefore unsafe.