Flooding in Schools - Eye on Calderdale

Riverside Junior school children learning by playing with a flood tank model.

Community engagement and education

The Environment Agency team is visiting local schools and communities to talk about flood safety. Their goal is to help everyone understand local flood risks, share vital safety tips, and listen to the experiences of people affected by flooding.

+ Careers events and student outreach

This has included attending careers fairs at Calder High School, Ryburn Valley High School, and Todmorden High School. As well as visiting students at the Climate Challenge College at Todmorden Learning Centre.

+ In-school workshops and activities

The team have also delivered full-day sessions in schools, introducing students to the work of the Environment Agency. These sessions included presentations alongside interactive engagement activities, such as:

A dirty water simulation tank to show the hidden dangers of walking or playing in floodwater.
A valley flood model to demonstrate how natural landscapes and engineered walls protect homes.
A 3D interactive landscape map that projects real flood plans directly onto a miniature valley model so students can see how new safety schemes work.

+ Community arts and festival involvement

In July 2025, the Environment Agency part-sponsored the Open Space 70 Festival hosted by Hebden Arts. As part of this, they teamed up with Old Town School students and local artist Fran Sierevogel from Handmade Parade. Together, the children created beautiful flood-themed artwork. You can see their masterpieces on display now at the local Flood Information Centre and along the community Arts Trail.

Child learning about flooding in Calderdale

Free flood education resources for schools

Slow The Flow has developed a range of free teaching resources for both primary and secondary schools. Written by teachers and designed to fit within the KS2 and KS3 curriculum, with the intention of increasing the awareness of flooding, flood related issues and the use of Natural Flood Management as an option for mitigation against floods.

Download free lessons and resources for Key Stages 2 and 3.

Preparing your school for flooding

Having a flood plan forms an important part of your school emergency plans. By planning in advance, you will not only be better prepared to respond in an emergency, you will also be better equipped to recover in the long-term.

Working together to complete a plan will help you respond quickly when flooding happens. It can help you decide what practical actions to take before and during a flood, helping reduce the damage flooding can cause. Don’t wait until it happens, you may not have time.

A-British-school-hallway-decorated-with-student-projects-and-a-trophy-cabinet

Five ways to help your school prepare for flooding

Complete these simple steps to ensure that your school is as prepared as possible for a flooding event.

+ Check your flood risk

Remember that even if your school isn't located near a river or canal, you may still be at risk of flash flooding. In addition, students and staff may live or need to travel through areas at risk, and your school might be the evacuation point for other schools when they are flooded. More information on checking your flood risk.

+ Create a flood plan for your school

This will need to include things like your school evacuation plan, how this is triggered, who to contact to report flooding/get help, the process for notifying parents, and plans for making sure children, parents and staff are aware of the procedure. More information on creating a flood plan.

+ Practice your flood plan

This will help you to identify any problems and check that communications are correctly set up and contact numbers are up to date.

+ Keep your plan up to date

You will need to ensure that the details in your plan are checked and updated regularly.

+ Sign up for free flood warnings

So you know when to activate your plan. Call Floodline on 0345 988 1188 or visit www.gov.uk/sign-up-for-flood-warnings.

Need help getting flood-ready?

Calderdale Council's Community Safety and Resilience Team can offer advice on emergency plans and The Environment Agency's Flood Resilience team can deliver flood awareness engagement to children, staff and parents. If you'd like to know more, please email [email protected] and [email protected].