Emergency planning

When things go wrong, it's easy to say 'if only I'd been better prepared... '. Time set aside to plan for how your school would cope in an emergency could make a huge difference to how effectively one is handled.

If your school does not have an emergency plan and you’ve been set the daunting task of creating an emergency plan, how do you get started? This area of TeacherNet is here to help you think through the process and provide tools to use in writing your plan and then communicating it effectively to those who will have roles to play. However, it's important to follow the steps below in order, so as to avoid duplicating work that has already been done and to ensure your plan will conform to local guidelines and arrangements:

Planning Types of incident Resources		Emergency planning When things go wrong, it's easy to say 'if only I'd been better prepared... '. Time set aside to plan for how your school would cope in an emergency could make a huge difference to how effectively one is handled. If your school does not have an emergency plan and you’ve been set the daunting task of creating an emergency plan, how do you get started? This area of TeacherNet is here to help you think through the process and provide tools to use in writing your plan and then communicating it effectively to those who will have roles to play. However, it's important to follow the steps below in order, so as to avoid duplicating work that has already been done and to ensure your plan will conform to local guidelines and arrangements:
Planning Types of incident Resources		Step 1 – Talk to your local authority All local authorities are required to have emergency plans, often referred to as critical-incident plans or civil-contingency plans. They may well involve your school already, possibly as emergency shelter for local residents in case of evacuation. Before you can plan effectively for your school, you will need to know how it fits into your local authority's plan. You may find that your LEA (or your local Diocese if you are a Church of England or Roman Catholic school) has prepared guidance for schools in preparing an emergency plan.	Step 2 – Talk to others who will be involved You will need to understand your local authority's emergency plan which will have been drawn up in consultation with the emergency services, and will include such things as agreed responses, response-times, roles and responsibilities. You should also talk to your local emergency-services personnel - the police officers who patrol your community, your local fire and ambulance stations, GPs and so on.	Step 3 – Work out your emergency plan There are many questions to think about. What could go wrong? How likely is it to happen? How can you reduce the chance that it will? How can you mitigate the consequences if it does? Who should be assigned roles, such as calming frightened children or handling the media? The LEA may have counsellors and media-handlers ready, but there will be a need to deal with such issues before they appear.
	This site is not primarily intended as a resource to use when an emergency occurs.
	The advice contained on this site should not be taken as an authoritative interpretation of the law. That is a matter for the courts.