Emergency Closure Procedure

Emergency Closure may be necessary for a number of unforeseen situations including but not limited to: Adverse weather conditions Unsuitable or unsafe environmental conditions A failure in essential services such as heat, electricity, or running water Advised closure due to illness outbreaks or potential risk of infection An outbreak of a pandemic disease Physical danger to children or staff Staffing levels unexpectedly fall below minimum required levels Any unforeseen circumstance beyond our control The management team will risk assess any emergency situation which arises and make a final decision about closure, unless closure is enforced by an outside agency such as the Emergency Services, the local authority or central Government. Although emergency closure is highly unusual, we ask that parents keep us up to date of their contact details and that of their emergency contacts. We also ask that you have a plan for any such situation in terms of alternative childcare arrangements. Closure outside operating hours Should closure become a possibility outside of operating hours we will: Inform all parents as soon as possible by email and post details on our social media page. Keep parents informed of information regarding re-opening and any conditions that may apply by email. Closure during operating hours Procedure should closure be necessary during operating hours, whilst children are present: Keep children calm and safe. The manager/deputy will assess whether it is safe to remain in the building or not. If it is safe to remain, staff will stay with the children at the required ratio. 72 WHYTEBEAMS NURSERY Parents will be telephoned immediately asking them to collect their child as soon as possible using the details provided on the child’s enrolment form. If parents cannot be contacted, then a message will be left if possible. We will then telephone the emergency contacts provided on the child’s enrolment form. The group will stay together whilst we wait for children to be collected. Usual security collection procedures will be adhered to. If it is unsafe to remain in the building, then our evacuation procedure will be put into action. The manager or deputy will hold the register and mark when children are collected to ensure an accurate headcount at all times. In addition, we will email parents and post on our social media page. If necessary, we may notify our Early Years local authority team of any emergency closures and details of re-opening. All parents will be notified of any infections within the setting where necessary and parents should notify the setting if their child has an infection. We will inform the local authority or UKHSA (UK health security agency) HPT (health protection team) and OFSTED if we have an outbreak of a notifiable disease. Please note that in the event of an emergency or forced closure we regret that will be unable to refund sessional fees or arrange for lost sessions to be swapped or replaced. Additional fees for extra curricular items may be credited at the discretion of the company directors.