There are occasions where the school needs to close unexpectedly. This may be due to bad weather, heating failure, a power failure or other reasons. We will only close the school in the best interests of student and staff safety, following Department for Education guidance.
In some situations the school may close partially. In this situation priority would be given to teach Years 11 and 13, followed by Year 10 and 12.
If the decision to close is outside of the school day, we will use the following means of communications to parents:
Heart (Thames Valley) VHF/FM 102.6/97.4/102.9/103.
BBC Radio Oxford – VHF/FM 95.2
Jack FM – VHF/FM 106.8
FM 107.9 – VHF/FM 107.9
Witney Radio – FM 99.9
Particularly during the winter months when bad weather is forecast, it is important to ensure you look out for these messages.
Please do not ring the school.
If it is not published on our website and the school’s Twitter account that the school is closed, your child should come in to school as usual.
Should the school need to close during the school day, we will contact the school buses to arrange early collection. Once we have an agreed time to send all of the students home, we will communicate as above to let you know that the school will be closing.
Students who live locally and do not use the school transport will be sent home at the same time as the buses leave school.
Obviously, it is our priority that your child is safe; therefore, if you require that your child be supervised until you are able to make arrangements for them, please reply to the school closure email and this will be picked up by the school office.
You should then follow the processes outlined above to check whether the situation has been dealt with ready for school to start the following morning, or whether the school is to remain closed.
Should the school need to close unexpectedly due to weather or other situations, a message will be sent from the HOY’s explaining how work will continue. On the first day of closure due to extreme weather, Students in KS3 will be expected to complete the appropriate subject award activities for the subjects they would have that day.
Students in KS4 and KS5 should revise for the subjects they would have that day using class and online materials.
Year 12 students should also consider working on their EPQs.
If a class teacher would like their class to do something different, they will contact them via e-mail and explain what work they would like them to do. Students should give any completed work to their teacher when they next see them in school.
Updated: March 2023
