School Closure Information

The previous dial-in phone service to inform parents of school closures has been withdrawn by Vodaphone.  Instead parents can obtain information on the Highland Council school closures webpage  - http://www.highland.gov.uk/schoolclosures 

If the school needs to close due to adverse weather conditions, parents will be notified through Seesaw as early as possible. This will provide sufficient time for parents to arrange childcare, if necessary, and ensure that families can plan accordingly for the day. Further updates regarding the reopening of the school or additional instructions will also be communicated through Seesaw.

It is the responsibility of parents or carers to decide if a pupil should attempt to travel to school, by transport or on foot, in adverse weather conditions. The Council encourages full attendance at school but in severe weather conditions the safety of pupils is much more important. Parents and pupils are often concerned that important examinations may be missed, but this should not over-ride good judgement. Schools normally make alternative arrangements for missed examinations. 

The Highland Council Website, Facebook and Twitter

• The Council’s website http://www.highland.gov.uk/schoolclosures will be updated with information for individual schools

• The Council’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/highlandcouncil  will show updated posts on the latest news of school closures and weather related problems

• The Council’s Twitter page at https://twitter.com/HighlandCouncil  will list Tweets of the latest news of school closures and weather-related problems.

Moray Firth Radio www.mfr.co.uk

Local news on the hour 6am – 6pm carries local information on weather, roads and conditions affecting schools.  In severe conditions normal programmes will be interrupted more frequently to carry emergency bulletins.

Please do not telephone local Radio for advice but listen to appropriate broadcasts.

For pupils using school transport

• Parents should note that the final decision on whether it is safe to operate rests with the driver of the school transport vehicle. Therefore there may be occasions on which a school is open but some routes, or parts of routes, are unable to operate

• Parents should advise their children on how long they should wait at the pick up point for their transport. This will depend on the prevailing weather conditions and the availability of shelter at the pick-up point. During adverse weather conditions no pupil is expected to wait longer than twenty minutes past the normal “pick-up” time

• Morning journeys may be delayed by an hour if road conditions are unsafe at the normal journey time but have improved within the hour.  Before pupils return to a pick up point parents should check the schools telephone information line for updated messages from their schools Head teacher. Please note that for some routes the transport operator may contact the parent directly

• Drivers are advised not to drop off children where there is a risk that they may not safely reach home or other place of shelter. This may involve children being taken to an alternative place of safety, agreed in consultation with the school 

• Where parents are concerned about weather conditions at “drop-off” points, they should contact the school as early as possible

Please note: when weather conditions are poor, parents should ensure that children are met at the “drop-off” point, especially where public service transport is used.

Full details of the Adverse Weather Guidelines are included in the enrolment pack.  Parents should advise schools of an alternative address, as close as possible to the school, which may be used by their children in emergencies.  

 In most cases we aim to give you advance warning of closures, however in some circumstances this is impossible, e.g. power failure, extreme weather.   All parents or emergency contacts would be informed.  Our first priority is always the safety of the children and no child is knowingly sent home to an empty house. 

The Education Authority accepts that in severe weather conditions the safety of pupils is paramount.