Emergency Closure

Closure Decision Procedure

We rarely make the decision to close. We follow the Oxfordshire County Council policy procedures on school closure, which are as follows:

The decision to close or partially close a school can only be made by the Head Teacher who has knowledge “on the ground” of their school, in consultation with their Chair of Governors wherever possible. The decision should be based on access to essential services (heating, water etc), staffing levels, transport safety, and site safety. In particular the decision making process takes account of:

• The health and safety of pupils, staff and volunteers which should always be paramount.
   
• The basic entitlement of 190 “pupil days” which should be offered if at all possible.
   
• Consideration should be given to closing the school to just some year groups and/or changing the opening and closing time if either will avoid complete closure.
   
• Consideration should be given to offering a reduced curriculum (or even non-curriculum) provision as an alternative to closure.

Closure Communication Process

We try all we can to avoid a closure but when a decision is made to close the school this will be communicated in a number of ways:

• An emergency message will be sent by ParentMail via text to all parents informing you of the closure and any relevant information.
   
• The rolling banner on our website Home page will detail the school closure.
   
• The following radio stations, which play a key role in transmitting school closure information, will be advised in the event of the school being closed.  (Please refrain from contacting the radio stations directly.)
  • BBC Radio Oxford VHF/FM 95.2
  • Heart FM (Thames Valley) VHF/FM 102.6/97.4/102.9/103.4
  • Banbury Sound VHF/FM 107.6

We will then keep you updated via ParentMail as to whether the school will remain closed and/or when we intend to reopen the school.