School closures

In the event of serious snowfall or other severe weather conditions, it may be necessary to close the school because:

• Local conditions mean that the school site is unsafe;
• Travel in the local area is severely disrupted or hazardous;
• Weather conditions elsewhere mean that teachers who live further away are unable to get to work safely and we do not have enough staff to operate the school properly.

A decision to close the school for the day will normally be taken by the Headteacher early in the morning in consultation with the senior leadership team. Such decisions are normally taken by 7.00 am. The procedure is then as follows:

• Parents will be alerted by email and/or text message via SIMS InTouch. Messages will be sent to the first priority contact on the school database. 
• Messages will be placed on the homepage of the school website and the answerphone system. 
• An email confirming the closure will also be sent to all students using their name@lgs.slough.sch.uk email addresses. 

Parents and students should always assume the school is open unless they receive a specific message from the school to say that the school is closed, and that message is also posted on the school website. 

Please note that we do not directly inform the coach, minibus or taxi companies who operate independent transport to schools in Slough. Parents should always check for themselves whether these transport operators are still running. 

We would not normally set work for students to do if the school is closed for the day. Students studying for GCSE and A Level examinations will normally have sufficient routine work, wider reading or revision to do.  Students in the lower years could catch up on any outstanding homework assignments and then choose to spend time reading books, newspapers, news and current affairs websites - anything to help develop vocabulary and an understanding of the world around them. In the event of a longer closure, remote learning would be organised as appropriate. 

School closure during the day

If weather conditions deteriorate during the day, a decision may be taken to close the school early to enable staff and students to get home safely. 

In this event, parents will be notified by email and/or text message, and will be expected to make arrangements for their sons and daughters to get home safely as soon as possible, eg by rearranging the time for collection from school. Students in Years 7-11 will be expected to make contact with their parents or other responsible adult and to be able to provide evidence of their agreement before leaving the school premises early. Sixth Form students will be allowed to leave and make their own way home.

Students who are unable to make their way home early will be able to stay in school under staff supervision until the normal end of the school day. However, we would then expect parents to make every reasonable effort to collect their sons or daughters as soon as possible so that school staff can be released to get home safely.