Bad Weather Procedures

On rare occasions, particularly in winter, the weather can be so severe that getting to and from school becomes hazardous. It is also possible that the weather could deteriorate during the course of the day, and it becomes necessary for children to leave the premises a little early in order to arrive home safely. 

We are aware that bad weather by its nature is disruptive. Please do not call the Academy in the event of bad weather as the lines can quickly become jammed. Any action due to poor weather will be posted immediately on our website, communicated on our social media channels and messages sent to parents by text. 

Decisions about closing the school or sending children home early will not be taken lightly, we will endeavour to open the school when it is practicable to be able to do so.  

A) If there is severe weather overnight 

Closure will be communicated by text message and email to parents, on our website and through our social media channels. 

If any child arrives at school unaware of the closure members of staff will be there to help. Pupils may phone parents without charge to decide whether they should return home or wait to be collected. We will always allow children to wait inside should they need to. 

B) If the weather deteriorates throughout the day 

The school will be closed early only in extreme cases. 

The decision to close the school will be made by the Principal and Senior colleagues from the Leadership Team. The closure may be staggered, and year groups may leave the site a few minutes apart. 

Decisions about early closure will be communicated to staff, families, and children as soon as this is appropriate. Children who use school buses will be told of any change to normal routes if this occurs so they can decide the best way home. 

Children being collected from school or with other arrangements will be allowed to phone home for advice on what to do. 

Children who can walk home will be sent preferably in family groups or in the company of other children who live near each other. 

School will be kept open with staff on hand until the last child has left. 

In the event of a school closure announced during the morning, best endeavours will be made to ensure those children entitled to a free school meal are provided with a sandwich and a drink as a minimum. 

• Check the website, social media channels, email and text from school for information communicated by The Albion Academy.
• Assume school is open if the website/email/text/social media does not announce otherwise and you have not received an email/text from the school.
• Plan ahead with your child what to do in a bad weather emergency. Do not call the Academy re: the bad weather as it can jam our telephone lines. 

We will operate our ‘wet form time’ protocol in the event of extreme weather. This means: 

• You still arrive by 8.25am, but we may well show flexibility on late to school detentions on these days
• You will go straight to your form room or assembly through either the Student Reception doors (Year 7), the Humanities and MFL doors (Years 8 and 9) or the PE and Technology doors (Years 10 and 11)
• Your Form Tutor will be in the room to meet and greet you. Any uniform or planner issues will be sorted at that point
• You must not bring snow into the building or throw snow inside the building at any point
• You must not throw snow at members of the school community who do not wish to be hit or behave in an aggressive way towards other members of the school community with snow

During snowy weather it may be considered a wet break/lunch depending on the severity of the weather and safety of the site. In this case children will be expected to remain in the dining room/ hall and not to go outside of the school building