This page is about Business Continuity – not terrorism threats or bomb hoaxes. There is a separate page for those and for information on critical incidents.
Business continuity is essentially about how you will maintain the daily running of your school when something goes wrong. This could be because of an accident or incident, a national problem, or a deliberate act (like vandalism to the water supply etc).
There are a range of things that may have an impact on the way you conduct the school day – this could be:
- a loss of staff (either many of them during a flu pandemic or one or two key staff)
- a loss of systems, such as IT or telecommunications
- Cyber attack / Ransomeware attack remain two of the constant threats every organisation faces. Ensure that you have the very latest protection to protect your IT and get all staff Cyber aware.
- a loss of utilities, like gas, water, electricity
- a loss of premises, or access to them, maybe due to fire
- a loss of key suppliers (such as those who provide the children’s lunches or your emergency maintenance workers)
- a loss or disruption to school transport.
So what should you do? Have a plan. Conduct it via a risk assessment approach which will give you ideas on how to put measures into place to stop any disruption, or if that’s not possible, at least minimise it.
There’s some guidance on this page as to how to write your plan and some helpful toolkits from the Government as well.
Don’t forget – any queries, please contact your H&S Advisor, Nina Bickerton, at [email protected].
These weblinks might also be of some use:
School and college security – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
School closures | Suffolk County Council
Severe weather information | Suffolk County Council
11 March 2020: PLEASE NOTE: The Business Continuity Plan guidance states on the front page that it’s due for review in 2017… it is currently undergoing a review and will be updated ASAP. However, it IS still guidance that should be followed and it’s likely that it will not drastically change.
Business Continuity Management toolkit
Coping with a school emergency
DfE Business Continuity Plan Template and Checklist
Guidance for schools to write their own Business Continuity Plan
Template for a Business Continuity Plan (to be used in conjunction with the guidance)