School closures
Information on RAAC
The Council is aware of the issue of RAAC (Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete). View our Information on RAAC page to find out more.
In an emergency, schools and early years centres may have to close suddenly. Any current school closures will be listed below as soon as we are able to add them.
Other ways to check whether a school is closed
If you think that a school may be closed and cannot find it here, there are other ways to get the information you need:
- Visit your school's website
- Most schools operate a phone tree or a text-messaging service which enables them to contact parents easily. For more information please contact your child's school
- Our @LearningInSoton profile on Twitter is currently not providing updates. Please refer to this page for up to date information. Thank you for your patience while we look into this
- Like our Southampton Parents page on Facebook
All schools will try to open, but they may find this impossible. Schools that are initially able to open are sometimes forced to close before the school day ends if the weather gets worse. This is to make sure that pupils and staff can get home safely.
Why might my child's school be closed?
The most common reasons for enforced school closures are:
- Severe weather – heavy snow, ice or strong winds which may cause structural damage or disruption to safe travel to and from the school, or in some cases around the school site
- Damage to buildings – caused by strong winds, fire, flooding or criminal damage
- Utilities failure – a burst water main, issues with the toilets or a heating failure
- Shortage of staff – this will only happen if circumstances have meant that there are not enough staff in school to ensure the safety of pupils
- High levels of illness – significant illness amongst staff and pupils may lead to closure if there are insufficient staff to open the school safely, if the school requires deep cleaning or if public health advise closing for a short period of time
- Industrial action – there may be rare occurrences that unions call teachers to take strike action. If enough teaching staff choose to strike, the school may have to close