IPPN

Published: 15 December 2022

Schools should conduct a pre-event evaluation of what should be, or could be in place to ensure the opening of the school in the event of severe weather. Areas for consideration are maintenance of school premises and utilities, salting and gritting and transport to and from school. Please refer to Allianz guidance below - Is your School Winter Ready?

Schools should ensure that every member of staff is clear as to their role and responsibilities during severe weather including in the event of a school closure. A member of staff should be assigned to monitor weather conditions and to contact the principal response agencies and school transport services, where required.

Closing a School
The decision to close a school rests with the school Board of Management authority taking into consideration the full guidance and direction available from the principal response agencies, especially An Garda Síochána.

Any decision to close is taken in the interest of child safety, having assessed the local risks and having consulted, as appropriate, with school transport operators. Some of the issues that schools take into account include:

• Conditions in the school itself
• The capacity of the school to ensure the health and safety of students whilst in school
• The ability of parents, students, staff and school transport services to safely negotiate local road conditions to reach the school
• Guidance and direction from the principal response agencies
• In instances where school closure occurs due to severe weather, schools can have regard to the latest guidance
  

Click here for government guidance

Published: 08 December 2022

If sending an urgent message, there is an option on the ‘Send Message’ screen to tick an ‘urgent’ tick box. This will bypass all app messages and send the SMS/text to all recipients.

Some recipients may not have their mobile data turned on and are unable to access Wi-Fi when they have the Textaparent App downloaded for delivery of messages. If a parents App is showing as unavailable, then the message will default to a text message after 2-3 hours unless the urgent option above is used.

Published: 08 December 2022

A critical incident is any incident or sequence of events, which overwhelms the normal coping mechanism of the school. The main aim of the Critical Incident Plan is to assist school leaders, their management team and staff to clear about their roles and act quickly and effectively in the event of a critical incident in the school. This enables all involved to maintain a sense of control and ensure the appropriate procedures are in place as well as the most appropriate supports for the staff, pupils, parents and all in the school community before, during and after the incident. This involves being prepared for a critical incident, which can occur at any time, managing the critical incident when it happens and restoring some form of normality after the incident is over. Why not review your policy and check that all contact details of relevant personnel are still in order? Discuss the plan with the NEPS psychologist and ensure that the NEPS emergency number is near at hand in the school. Use the Critical Incident Guidelines (DES) and presentation for a Staff Meeting (www.gov.ie)to brief all staff on what will happen in the event of an incident occurring. Relevant templates for use when such an incident happens are all available at www.gov.ie

SCHOOLS SEEKING SUPPORT SHOULD CONTACT THEIR LOCAL NEPS OFFICE

Local Garda Station

There may be many times in the life of a school that contact will be made with Gardaí. In the event of requiring the emergency services, the school can call 112 or 999 from any phone. Both numbers are free of charge. At other times, the school may need to contact the local Garda station. Check your local station and have the number near at hand in the school in the event of support being needed in an emergency.

Published: 01 December 2022

The Minister for Education has announced an additional capitation payment, approximately 40 per cent increase in current capitation rate payments for this academic year. This once-off payment will be paid to schools before the end of the current school term. It is to provide additional support to schools given general inflation and increasing energy prices. Rates have been centrally negotiated by the DE for electricity and bulk heating fuels. Information on how to avail of these arrangements is available via the Schools Procurement Unit section. 

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