The school will be open if it is safe to do so, the decision being taken together with Warwick School and King’s High School. Notification about whether the school is open or closed will be made to all staff and parents as soon as possible on the day in question and normally by 7am. The best place to check is the school website.

Attendance

If your child is unable to come into school due to the poor weather, there is no need to telephone the school to inform us of this. Instead of a phone call, please email WPS-parents@warwickschools.co.uk

Clothing

Children coming into school may wear wellingtons or shoes with better grip. They should then change into their normal shoes once in the school building. Non-uniform clothes may be worn for the journey into and away from school – just keep warm!

Drop off

If it has not been possible to clear the Banbury Road playground, a controlled drop-off will be put into operation. Parents should form a queue around the cleared ‘roadway’ and drop off children when parked in the drop-off area directly in front of the school building where staff will be on hand to assist. If possible, please can the children be ready to get out quickly with all their bags. Please also be careful when pulling back out into the main stream of traffic. Even more caution than usual will obviously be required. We ask all parents to be patient whilst we manage the controlled drop-off system and not to let children out of cars early in the queue.

If it is at all feasible to come to school on foot, families are encouraged to do so in order to reduce congestion. Those arriving in this way should keep to the cleared pathways to gain access to the school and change out of wet footwear (to avoid slipping), on entering the building.

Transportation by bus

The new KURA parent app has replaced the transport website. The app will provide live tracking and notifications to give peace of mind to parents and update the Foundation in real time. Boarding and alighting notifications will be sent direct to parents’ phones and vehicle tracking is also possible via the app. Notifications are sent out if a vehicle is experiencing a delay of more than 10 minutes and if there is an issue with the journey. The Foundation can also send out messages via the app to update parents on situations such as adverse weather.

Enquiries, bookings and alterations to bookings can be made by emailing transport@warwickschools.co.uk; these will then be updated on the app.

The school day

The timings of the school day will be as normal. Any updates will be posted on the school website and this should be consulted in preference to telephoning the school. Parents should only collect children early if their local weather conditions suggest that it may be difficult to leave collection to the normal time. Please note that, if you have children at either of the senior schools, you may need to check with them first as to whether you are able to collect them early too. It is likely that on a day of such major disruption there will be limited (if any) after-school provision. Please check the website for information.

For those who make it in, we will provide the best educational programme possible. However, it is very likely that a number of staff will not be able to make it in. Therefore:

• We will combine classes if necessary.
• We may not be able to run a normal teaching timetable.  A suitable and worthwhile programme will be drawn up appropriate to the staff available and the pupils present.
• We will ensure that the needs of children are met as effectively as possible (e.g. practice and revision for exam candidates).

The school will provide a cooked lunch as normal, though we may have to draw in help from other Foundation kitchens.

The dietary requirements of all children will be adhered to as carefully as they are on a ‘normal’ day.

On arrival in school, children should gather in the following places:

• The Squirrels Nursery pupils: In Nursery
• Lower School (Reception, Year 1 & Year 2) pupils: Open Area
• Middle School and Upper School pupils: Main School Hall

Collection at the end of the day will be managed according to the conditions, though if at all possible we will stick to normal collection times and arrangements. Again, please keep an eye on the website for updates.

School closure during the day

Where weather conditions deteriorate during the school day and the safest option for all is an early school closure (a decision being made by the Heads), information will be communicated to parents as soon as possible. This will be via text message and website update.

Parents should endeavour to make arrangements to collect their child from school as soon as possible, but at the latest, by the time given that the school will close.

For Nursery parents, children should be collected from The Squirrels Nursery, in the normal way.

For all other collections, parents should park on the Banbury Road playground. In the first instance, parents should report to the main Reception area and members of the office team will arrange for children to be brought down to the main entrance for collection.

As time progresses and the number of parents collecting pupils increases, staff will be on hand under the canopy area adjacent to the Banbury Road playground, so that pupils can be collected from within school and brought down to the canopy area to be handed over to waiting parents.

Finally, when only a handful of children remain in school, collection should be from the Open Area, where children will be kept warm and safe. Parents should park on the Banbury Road playground and walk round to the Open Area.

Where disruption to the school day occurs across a lunchtime, children who are in school will have lunch in the dining room, as normal.

It is inevitable that disruption through snow and possible school closure causes difficulties for everyone, but we hope all parents will bear with us as we facilitate the safe departure of over 600 pupils and employees from the Warwick Prep site.

We thank you in advance for your co-operation.