| Date Created | Date 1st Review Due | Date Reviewed | Version | Next Review Due |
| February 2023 | February 2024 |
Policy Statement
Egham Park School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
Introduction
Egham Park School are committed to ensuring that, in the event of major emergency or incident, the school will provide an effective emergency response to minimise the impact of the emergency, and to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all pupils and adults in their care. This policy also applies to the continuity of the work of the school. This policy applies to the site in which Egham Park School operates, namely:
| School Address | Waspe Farm, 68 Station Road, Egham, Surrey, TW20 9LF |
| School Contact Number | 01789 913929 |
Scope
This plan is designed to allow school to cope in a wide range of emergencies, including those occurring:
- within the school during the school day
- to the school outside of school hours
- on school trips and journeys
- to pupils on the way to or from school
- from events immediately outside the school
- from events that adversely affect an area wider than the school itself.
Definition
An emergency incident or crisis can be clarified as an unexpected event which affects the schools’ community, and which causes disruption on a scale which is beyond the normal coping capability of the school.
The emergency incident may involve significant threat, damage or injury to property and individuals, and may have a long-term impact on pupils, staff, volunteers, visitors, and parents. A major emergency may involve significant threat to the school being able to operate.
The following are examples of emergency incidents that may impact on the Schools and require activation of this Emergency Plan:
- Fire or flood to buildings and contents.
- Death, accident or assault to members of staff or pupils
- Natural major emergency incident within the local community
- Missing Person(s) /abductions
- Firearms / weapons /act of terrorism
- Pandemic / severe long-term weather / other reason the school may be shut down
The Emergency and Continuity Plan will not list each type of Emergency situation but will provide a framework for Emergency Response that can be used in most Emergency situations. It is important that the Emergency and Continuity Procedure Policy is understood by those with the responsibility for implementation and activated immediately.
Aims of the Emergency and Continuity Plan
To provide effective emergency response arrangements that will ensure the wellbeing and safety of all children, adults and animals in the care of the School, and the continuation of the school’s business.
Objectives of the Emergency and Continuity Plan
- Establish an effective framework of Emergency Response.
- Ensure that an emergency incident is communicated quickly and clearly to supporting agencies and partners, enabling support arrangements to be rapidly activated. Note the use of detailed arrangements in the lockdown procedure for both partial and full lockdowns.
- Maintain high standards of welfare and duty of care arrangements to pupils, staff, parents, animals, carers, visitors and volunteers.
- Ensure that actions and decision-making during the emergency incident is properly recorded in the Emergency Incident Record via the Emergency Incident Report Form.
- To minimise educational and administrative disruption within school.
- To enable continuity of the school business if school property is not available.
- To facilitate the return to normal working arrangements at the earliest time.
Implementation/Evaluation
The action to be taken will vary according to the circumstances (e.g. evacuation of the premises because of serious threat; bomb threat, serious accident; natural disasters in the community; acts of terrorism; etc). The Principal will endeavour to keep all stakeholders informed of the situation/closure.
For Evacuation please see the Fire and Emergency Safety Policy.
This is practised each half term at all sites to ensure pupils, staff, animals, volunteers and visitors can be evacuated quickly and safely.
For Lockdown please see the Lockdown Policy.
This is practised termly at all sites to ensure pupils, staff and visitors can be safely held inside school premises until activities can resume or they can be safely evacuated. This is relevant to incidents in the school or immediately outside the school.
For Management of School Trips including Emergencies during trips please see the Off-site Visits Policy.
All visits follow a specified checklist of preparation, delivery and review. This includes how to deal with emergencies.
For incidents concerning the school outside of school hours
The school employs staff who live near to the school site. They will act as first responders to any incident and will respond if the emergency services are involved.
For incidents involving pupils on the way to or from school
We are alerted by the relevant taxi service of issues and deal with them following the guidelines below.
For School Closure events that adversely affect an area wider than the school itself
The Leadership Team will invoke the plan below. The Principalwill implement the plan unless unavailable, in which case another member of the SLT will do.
Action will be guided by the emergency services, local government or central government advice to schools/citizens. For example, in the case of a pandemic or severe weather Surrey County Council alerts all schools to close or reopen we will follow their advice.
Where health advice needs to be followed, action will be guided by central government advice to schools/citizens.
Specifically for the Coronavirus (Covid-19)
All pupils, staff and visitors are required to follow the current government guidance concerning Coronavirus safety and attendance at school. Due to the amount of change involved instructions are given to staff as the guidance changes as are underscored at Inset sessions.
During the period of any pandemic all staff are asked to limit their travel to countries identified by the government as safe. Staff who travel to restricted areas as identified by government advice during the outbreak will not be eligible for sick pay during the self-quarantine period and will be eligible for SSP only thereafter. Regular hand-washing of over 20 seconds is advised to all staff, pupils, volunteers and visitors, as well as other government issued advice concerning sneezing, touching face, etc.
If a stakeholder (pupil, staff, visitor etc) or someone in their household has been diagnosed with Coronavirus, Egham Park School reserves the right to request that the person should self-quarantine in line with current government guidance.
School Closure Plan
Should the school need to be closed due to lack of staff or on government advice, a member of the Senior Leadership Team will advise all staff, parents/pupils, transport providers and scheduled visitors, including cleaners. The Duty Manager will advise how long the school will be closed for. If closed for more than a week then communication will be sent each Monday to update all parties.
Staff will operate from home (for meetings/face-to-face appointments/therapy), TEAMS (for lessons), and online software platforms. The school phones will be diverted to school mobiles which will be monitored by staff from home. The Senior Leadership Team will arrange substitutes where teachers may be unavailable due to illness.
Pupils will use their Chromebooks at home at access lessons.
Any staff disciplinary processes will be paused until school resumes.
We will be guided by advice from JCQ and Exam Boards regarding public examinations.
The staff living near each school will be responsible for ensuring the property is secure and remains in good condition eg. turning off the water in the event of a leak. These people are responsible for accepting packages, particularly exam materials.
If the Internet ceases to function, communication/lessons/meetings will wait until it is functioning. Attendance records will be maintained on paper until it is functioning. If CPOMS doesn’t work a paper record will be kept and the Designated Safeguarding Lead will be informed by phone.
For extended school closure there will be a reintegration process for pupils which will be communicated by the Senior Leadership Team.
Schools will be subject to a deep clean before pupils return as required.
Should the school be closed due to a failure of the premises, alternative premises will be sourced (though cannot be guaranteed) e.g. Leisure Centres, Community Halls etc or virtual school will operate to allow the school to function until the building is restored.
In all emergencies the following guidelines will indicate how the situation should be handled:
- The Senior Leadership Team shall attempt to get as much factual information as possible, and will decide to whom it should be communicated, and how.
- Where necessary, steps will be taken immediately to ensure the welfare and physical safety of pupils, staff and volunteers/visitors, by evacuating the premises, alerting medical services, police, and/or other relevant emergency services. Pupil’s prescribed medication will be taken from school premises where it is safe to do so, to accompany that child.
- Pupils will be reunited with their families as soon as possible. They will only be released once a parent or carer has given permission.
- Where it has been necessary to evacuate pupils and staff or volunteers/visitors, they will assemble at designated Assembly Point.
- If the building cannot be reoccupied following an evacuation, pupils will be escorted to a designated safe place e.g. the local, where a register will be taken.
- Where it is deemed necessary, the Senior Leadership Team will meet to decide on changes to strategy.
The aim will be to assist in deciding, for example:
- if the school should continue as normal
- if and how the school should be represented at funerals/hospital(s) etc
- if external support agencies should be invited into the school to deal with possible cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in staff, pupils or volunteers
- other support that may be necessary for the school, the staff, the pupils or volunteers.
- actions to be taken to help the school as a community to come to terms with the relevant events, etc
- Teachers and support staff will monitor the return of school pupils involved in traumatic events. The Senior Leadership Team will also be aware of the needs of the staff that may have been involved.
- There will be a review of all incidents/closures to see what Egham Park School could learn and therefore improve the management of future incidents/closures.
In addition please see the First Aid Policy and the Health & Safety Policy.