Emergency procedures / Earthquake closure

Health and safety within our school community is the concern of everyone. We certainly can’t prevent disasters but we can all take simple steps to reduce the impact, and be better prepared to recover quickly.
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During the initial stages of an emergency we will need to take some initial actions to look after ourselves, because the emergency services may not be able to respond for some hours during the initial stages of a civil defence emergency.Our emergency contact plan for parents and caregivers
The School has emergency evacuation procedures and practises these regularly.
In the case of an emergency closure we will use all communication options available to make contact with you. We cannot predict the type of event but it is likely we will try to use the following methods:
• The School texting system to send a message to all families
• The School phone tree will be activated

• Listen to the radio for civil defence advice. Tune in to National Radio, Newstalk ZB, The Hits, More FM.
• Collingwoods method to monitor and record when pupils are picked up by parents / caregivers.
• Cell Phone use amongst school students may mean students are quickly in contact with their parents. Document school protocols about the use of cellphones in an emergency and make sure students know that they are to advise their teacher if they have made contact with their parents or caregivers (and remind them of this when running drills).

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Our role in a Civil Defence emergency
In case of a Tsunami CAS is the Collingwood Civil Defence centre – for all other emergencies it is the Collingwood Hall. This is documented on the Civil Defence Nelson/Tasman website.

Collingwood Area School  Civil Defence Welfare Centre Plan.