Highland school closures online launched as winter arrives.

With the onset of wintry conditions, The Highland Council has launched a new school closure page on its website to supplement its school closures telephone information service.

School Closures Online is prominently featured on the home page of the Council’s web site http://www.highland.gov.uk to advise parents and pupils if local schools have been closed due to adverse weather conditions.  Although the closures website is particularly useful during the winter months, the website will be active all year round when schools can close for a variety of reasons such as damage caused by adverse weather or emergency situations such as loss of power or water supplies.

School closures decisions are made by individual Head Teachers who are responsible for the health, wellbeing and safety of pupils, staff and other users of the school building. The list of school closures is refreshed at 3pm at the end of each school day in order to allow schools to update their closure status for the following day.

In an area the size of the Highlands, the Council’s Education Culture and Sport Service does not normally take steps to close schools collectively as local weather conditions can vary significantly across the Highlands.

In addition to the School Closure Online website, the Schools Telephone Information Line is still available. This service gives callers access to the latest pre-recorded message(s) from the Head Teacher. The telephone number is 0870 054 6999, followed by the school's PIN number when prompted. PIN numbers are available from each school and also on the council’s website at: http://www.highland.gov.uk.

The Council has welcomed a move by local bus operator, DE Coaches to post important updates on their services on Facebook at www.facebook.com/decoachesltd.

The company provides school transport for ten schools including:

Councillor Alasdair Christie, Chairman of The Highland Council’s Adult and Children’s Services Committee welcomed the new School Closures Online website and D&E Coaches Facebook updates.

He said: “Getting accurate information out to pupils and families as quickly as possible on school closures is vital, especially where alternatives arrangements such as child care need to be made. We appreciate the disruption that is caused to parents and families when their schools are closed but hope that by getting the messages out as fast as possible, some of the inconvenience of making alternative arrangements can be reduced.

“We also greatly appreciate the help that local radio stations give in broadcasting school closure information and hope that the new School Closure Online site will help them to relay speedier accurate information on closures.”