Snow and Severe Weather

Bradford College tries to stay open during snow or severe weather while keeping your safety in mind.

We know it may be hard for you to get to College in bad weather.

We will be open unless we have posted here, on the College’s Facebook or Twitter pages. This is where we will also announce when we are open again.

If we are closing, we will let BBC Radio Leeds and Pulse Radio know.

Safety measures

If the College is open, please wear:

• sensible footwear (boots, shoes with grips or wellies)
• plenty of layers
• warm waterproof coat
• hat, gloves and scarf

Deciding whether to close

Our senior management meets as early as they can in the morning to decide whether it needs to close.

It depends on:

• road conditions
• bus services in the area
• transport news for local and surrounding areas
• school closures
• weather forecast
• safety of the College grounds
• safety of staff and students

Assignments

Tutors will decide whether to change assignment deadlines, so please check with them as soon as you can.
You can email your tutors when we are closed due to snow.

Planned exams

If the College closes due to bad weather and you have an exam on that day, the Exam Team will work with the Exam Board to reschedule the exam or to put an alternative plan in place.

Further Education students

Please email your details (including your name, student ID number, course title and details of the exam) to [email protected]

Higher Education students

Please email your details (including your name, student ID number, course title and details of the exam) to [email protected] 

Bradford College Snow Policy

It is the College’s duty to be open and to provide education if we can. But the safety of staff and students is paramount and the College appreciates that in some circumstances it will be difficult for some people to get to College in bad weather for a range of reasons, but it is still expected that a genuine attempt to attend College is made.

The College will remain open as much as possible.  Therefore unless you are told the day before, either that the College will be closed, or that a decision will be taken early the following morning, then the College will be open. If a decision is being taken early the following morning, the information will be posted on the website, Facebook and Twitter sites. BBC Radio Leeds and Pulse Radio will be informed only if the College is to close.

Use of social media (Facebook and Twitter)

We monitor the College’s official Facebook and Twitter social media accounts throughout the day. We will post further announcements, update and monitor social media accounts during office hours. We won’t answer replies and comments posted after 6pm until the following morning)

Please observe the College’s acceptable behaviour policy and remember that bad language and offensive posts will not be tolerated on our sites. We will remove bad language or offensive posts. 

We may make a note of your details and may block you from using the site in the future.

The Snow Closure Process

A small team of Senior Managers (including Facilities/Estates, Health and Safety, Publicity) meet to provide their input into the decision. The official decision is ultimately taken by our Principal, Vice-Principals and Senior Management Team.

The meeting takes place as early as possible if we are considering a closure, early closure, evening class closure or day closure the following day. If there is any doubt about opening the following day, we meet by phone conference to decide if it is advisable to open as usual later that morning.  However, the managers concerned can only act upon the information they have at the time. This often involves going out onto the roads where they are and seeing for themselves what the conditions are like. 

In addition to this other sources of information are taken into account:

Conditions at College

The night security patrol reports about the conditions on the roads and grounds of the College buildings.

Bus services in the local area

We check the services early in the morning to make sure our staff and students can make the journey to College safely and again during the day to ensure that homeward journeys will be possible.

Transport news for the local area

We consider what the road conditions are currently like, how this will be likely to progress throughout the day, how the conditions will affect people getting to College and home again.

School closures in the area

We review how many of the schools in the area are closed, including infant, primary and secondary schools). We also consider childcare issues for our staff and students who are parents.

Weather forecast

We monitor the 24-hour and five-day forecasts from the BBC and weather warnings from the Met Office. The Met Office uses a system of:

• Clear
• Be aware
• Be Prepared
• Take Action

The College has never experienced an alert higher than the Be Prepared level.

Safety of College grounds

Our Facilities Team proactively grit and salt College car parks, paths and the roads that we own.

This is done before predicted heavy frost or snow. They use the Met Office predictions to guide them as to when and how much salt is applied.

Safety of College students and staff

The safety of staff and students is paramount.

But the College has a duty to be open and to provide education if we can.

When making our decision, we always consider reduced opening hours over a total closure, and we take into account early morning journeys into College and journeys back home later in the day.

We monitor the weather, travel and roads throughout the day and make appropriate decisions based on the information we receive.