Flooding in Schools - Eye on Calderdale

School student working at a school desk.

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.

5 steps to making your school more flood resilient

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

Here are some resources that might help.

Prepare a flood plan

4. 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.

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

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 emergencyplanning@calderdale.gov.uk and YorkshireFloodResilience@environment-agency.gov.uk.