Advice for schools on severe weather and closures

In the case of severe weather, when should schools be closed and what impact does this have on staff and students?

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on the National Education Union

The Department for Education (DfE) advises that any decision to close a school is for headteachers, since they know their schools and the surrounding area. 

DfE advice is that headteachers should use common sense in assessing the risks and keep their schools open whenever it is safe to do so. Schools can improve their readiness and planning for severe weather by signing up to the Met Office’s severe weather warning system.

Reasons for closure 

Severe weather may mean that some schools are unable to open as planned – for instance, because of broken heating or frozen pipes – or that some students and staff are unable to reach the school. Where schools are unable to open, they should try to minimise disruption by informing parents, providing as much notice as possible, using their website, email, local media and other suitable communication methods.

Sometimes schools may need to close early because of rapidly deteriorating conditions and/or possible problems with transport home. Schools should have systems in place for alerting parents in such circumstances.

Attendance

The DfE advises that headteachers should not be worried about the impact that closing may have on their attendance statistics. When a pupil cannot get in because of severe weather, the school can use attendance code Y, which means that the pupil’s absence will not affect the attendance statistics.

When schools have been closed, or staff have been unable to get into school, due to adverse weather conditions they should not be expected to make up the time at a later date. Any attempts from employers to recoup this time – for instance through a loss of planning, preparation and assessment time – is unreasonable and should be resisted at school level. 

A school closure of this nature should be considered a necessary response to potentially unsafe conditions and staff should not be penalised for this when normal arrangements resume.