We aim to avoid, as far as possible, any uncertainty and confusion in the event of possible school closure. We believe that the best way to do this is to communicate as fully as possible with our parents.

On rare occasions, adverse weather may mean that the school sites are unsafe and pose health and safety risks to the school community - children, parents and staff. Therefore the school will find it necessary to close.

In making this decision, we take into consideration the following:

• The safety of the children, parents and staff
• Regular weather updates and road information, obtained from the Met Office and the Highways Agency
• Local reports on national and local news sites 
• Predicted weather and recommendations from the local authorities
• The conditions of the site itself
• The condition of untreated surfaces on the surrounding roads of the school
• Hazardous driving conditions
• Health and saftey risk assessments
• Any risk to staffing - eg whether we can sufficiently staff the school to safely supervise the children or indeed provide a meal for them during the school day

Decisions whether or not to close the school involve the Head Teachers and the Board of Directors for each school. 

In the event of adverse weather

A decision will be made either the night before or by 7:00am on the day as to whether the school site will: be opened; have a delayed opening; need to be closed.

In the event of closure or delayed opening:

• Information will be displayed on the school website for both the school and Little Acorns www.woodlandsschools.co.uk
• A text and e-mail message using Parentmail will be sent to all parents and staff

The website should be checked regularly for updates with regards to opening and closing times. If the sites open in adverse conditions parents should be aware that breakfast, after school clubs and Wraparound may be cancelled in order to ensure that all children arrive and reach home safely. Once the decision to open the site has been reached it is the responsibility of all parents to decide whether they feel they can safely make the journey to and from the site. Woodlands Schools/Little Acorns do not expect any parent to put their children or themselves at risk.