Emergency Management Planning

You can find more information on emergencies, warnings and preparedness actions here:

Our school runs a comprehensive series of reviews and planning processes throughout the year, to best manage safety of our students, staff and the community in emergency situations. This includes thorough planning for evacuations, runnning termly exercises with the staff and students at school to practise various emergency management drills, as well as executing preventative measures such as those specified through the bushfire preparedness scheme.

Bushfire Season

School preparations for the bushfire season

Each year, we undertake a range of activities to ensure the safety of our school and to prepare for bushfires and grassfires.

An important part of this process is communicating to parents what will happen when certain fire danger ratings are issued to help ensure the safety of students and staff.

Our school has been identified as being at risk of bushfire or grassfire and is a Category 3 school.

Our school will close on a day forecasted as Catastrophic fire danger rating in Central fire district.

Closure of the school due to a Catastrophic fire danger rating will be enacted when the Bureau of Meteorology forecast and related public safety messaging are confirmed. Due to uncertainties in the forecast, the timing of this confirmation may vary. Information regarding potential or confirmed Catastrophic fire danger days will be communicated to you via News Feed on Compass. 

It is also important to be aware that:

  • No one will be on site on days where the school is closed due to a forecast Catastrophic day.

  • Out-of-school-hours care will also be cancelled on these days.

  • All bus routes that travel through the Catastrophic area will be cancelled.

  • School camps will be cancelled if a Catastrophic fire danger rating day is forecast for fire weather district in which the camp is located, or if the travel involves passing through areas that have Catastrophic fire danger.

  • Once a school closure has been confirmed, this will not change, even if the weather later turns out to have offered a reduced risk.

As part of preparing our school for the fire season, we have updated and completed our Emergency Management Plan and prioritise any maintenance works that may assist in preparing for the threat of fire, including safety measures in adapting our buildings, and clearing our facility’s grounds and gutters throughout the year.

Enacting Our Emergency Management Plan

  • The school has an Emergency Management Plan. This plan accounts for a range of incidents including fires. If there is a fire in the landscape, we will initiate that plan, and seek advice from emergency services for the safest actions for the school. 

  • If our Emergency Management Plan is activated, we let you know by Compass notification. 

  • The Department of Education supports us to monitor warnings and weather conditions, and will work with emergency services to provide us with advice to keep our school safe.

  • We may ask for you to collect your children. In other circumstances, we may ask that you do not collect your children, as this may place you and them in greater danger.

  • All decisions will prioritise the safety of our students and will be informed by advice by the emergency services.

What can families and the school community do to help us prepare?

  • Ensure we have your current contact details, including your mobile phone numbers. 

  • Keep in touch with us by reading our newsletters, checking our website, by talking to your child’s teacher or any other member of the teaching staff about our emergency management plan.

  • Make sure your family’s bushfire survival plan is up-to-date and includes alternative care arrangements if our school is closed due to Catastrophic fire danger. Further information can be found on the CFA’s website.

  • Action your family’s bushfire survival plan if your own triggers are met. Our school community is spread out across many areas and some families may be at higher risk than others. Your family’s safety is critical, so please let us know if you are actioning your bushfire survival plan and if your children will be absent on these days.

  • If your child is old enough, talk to them about bushfires and your family’s bushfire survival plan.

Families are encouraged to action their Bushfire Survival Plan on Catastrophic fire danger rating days in their district. The safest option is to leave the night before or early on the morning of the Catastrophic day. On such days, children should never be left at home alone or in the care of older children.