Contingency Planning for Exceptional Circumstances
We always endeavour to keep the school open except in the most extreme or dangerous of situations. However, there are some occasions, particularly in very snowy or icy conditions, when it is difficult to guarantee the safety of all our students. In these types of situations, it may, therefore, be necessary to put a contingency plan into operation:
- Our main way of communicating with you will be via this website. We will update this as soon as we can to tell you of our plans and provide further information throughout the day.
- We will also send a text message to the mobile phone number we have on our system to alert you of the need to put in place a contingency plan.
- On some occasions, students may already be in school when the contingency plan needs to be put in place. We will inform you of this via a text message and an update on the school website. We will supervise until normal leaving time any students who inform us that there are no arrangements for them to return home early.
It will only be on the rarest of occasions when this contingency plan will need to be carried out. Nevertheless, please do bear in mind the contents of this letter and do not rely on gossip or rumour in relation to any plans the school may put in place in the event of exceptional circumstances.
School Closure Contingency Plan
Our primary aim is the safety and wellbeing of our staff and students. In addition to this we recognise the need for continuity, routine and predictability for parents / carers and young people. We will take all steps possible to keep school open, whilst having robust contingency plans in place should school ever need to close.
This document operates in conjunction with the remote learning policy and the associated policies contained within it. We ask all parents and carers to take the time to familiarise themselves with the remote learning policy, which can be found on the school website, as well as with the information below, so that the whole school community can support our students and ensure minimal disruption to their learning, should we be forced to close for any reason.
To enable teaching and learning to continue as effectively as possible during the school closure
- we will expect students to complete all work set to the best of their ability.
- we will keep expectations clear that all work set must be completed and will not set any additional homework during closure.
- students will need to have access to the internet (please contact us on office@bishopr.co.uk as soon as possible if you require support with this, so that we can arrange hard copy resources for collection).
- students will follow their normal school timetable, so that students can plan their day accordingly.
- we will allocate a member of our Learning Support or Welfare Team as a link, to provide remote support and enable students with additional needs to access the work and liaise with teachers.
Our staff will:
- invite students to their lesson on Microsoft Teams.
- contact parents via email if their child is not completing their schoolwork or their standard of work has noticeably decreased.
- monitor the academic progress of pupils with and without access to the online learning resources and arrange strategies for support accordingly.
- mark work in line with the Marking and Feedback Policy.
Our students will be expected to:
- check their class TEAMs for lesson invites.
- follow their usual timetable where possible
- complete the work to the best of their ability.
- submit their completed work according to the deadline set by the relevant member of staff, by uploading it on to Microsoft TEAMS.
- students can complete work in exercise books/on paper but will need to take clear photographs of it and upload into their class TEAM.
Parents are responsible for:
- adhering to the remote learning policy during periods of remote learning.
- ensuring that their child is available to learn remotely according to their normal timetable and that schoolwork is completed on time, to the best of their child’s ability.
- ensuring that their child is familiar with the expectations for remote learning and that any absences are reported accordingly.
Information Regarding Our Learning Platform
The following links are to Microsoft TEAMS, which will be used to set work during a contingency closure of school, along with tutorials on how to use MS TEAMS. Parents and carers are asked to support students in familiarising themselves with these systems and let the school know if they cannot access them.
Microsoft TEAMS is an online website/application that enables your child to access work and communicate with their teachers. Your child is already a member of a TEAM, however if they are having any difficulties in accessing MS TEAMS, or if they have not received an invitation to join TEAMS, they should contact IT Support through the school office, who will help.
Further information
Please have regular conversations about staying safe online and tell your child to speak to you or their teacher, if they come across something worrying online.