EMERGENCY AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

At Liston College we take the safety of our students and staff very seriously. Our responsibility includes identifying and reducing potential risks, preparing for and responding to emergencies, and managing the recovery from crisis situations that affect our students, staff and the school environment. 

Key staff are part a crisis management team and are responsible to carry out the different response plans for our school

During the year we have a number of EMERGENCY PRACTICE DRILLS (fire, earthquake and lockdown) to ensure that our staff and students are both aware of emergency procedures and know how to respond quickly and effectively to them. The college EVACUATION AREA is in front of the TA block, on the Astroturf  (see map).

 Download :  Liston College Emergency Procedures Card

PART A:     NOTIFICATION of an EMERGENCY and / or SCHOOL CLOSURE

We try not to close the school at any stage during the school year, but will do so if there is a risk to student and staff health and safety, either within the school or getting to and from school. Where possible, we will notify parents prior to the beginning of the school day. 

Closure will be due to:

• the school environment being dangerous to students and staff
• we have no essential services for an extended length of time
• extreme weather

Depending on circumstances Official Notification will be through either: 

• School website 
• The School App 
• Email 

 The main school phone line is to be kept free for Emergency Service only.

1.  Reunification Plan - Release of your son in or after an emergency or crisis situation 

Decisions regarding the release of students from school will be made by management, dependent on the type and level of risk to student safety. If there is any foreseeable risk, students will be cared for at school until they can be released safely.

Please impress upon your son the need for them to follow the directions of any school personnel in times of an emergency and not to leave the school grounds until officially signed out. 

In the event of a Local or Regional Civil Defence emergency, for example earthquake, wind event or flooding, where school is the safest place, all students will be kept at school until collected. The time of release and collection may be directed by Civil Defence and/or the NZ Police. 

During an extreme emergency, students will be released from a designated collection point, this being the gymnasium. When the dangerous incident has subsided, the “all clear” will be advised by Civil Defence or NZ Police and we will begin contacting caregivers. 

In some situations, communication may be difficult and we may not be able to release students to persons other than those you have identified on the school emergency contact information (Please see below as to how this can be updated). 

2.  Responsibilities of Parents/Caregivers in case of emergency … Updating personal Information

Your cooperation is necessary to ensure that we can manage situations that involve the safety of the more than 900 people who make up our school community on any given day.  We need your help in ensuring that we have up-to-date information on any issues that may affect your sons’ wellbeing or that of our school community.  

To ensure that this can happen, we need your up-to-date contact details to contact you at any time, including how to get hold of you in the case of an emergency or school closure.

We need to be assured that we can contact you, or have the contact information for who has your authority to make decisions relating to your son, in an emergency situation. 

To update your contact information please contact the School Office to update your details by:

• phone: 09 838 9350
• email: [email protected].
• or using the SchoolBridge Portal (also available via the school website)

PART B:     ILLNESS, PANDEMIC OR CONTAGIOUS DISEASE 

There will always be the threat of a pandemic on a local, national or global scale. In the early stages of any threat to student safety we will communicate the risks and school procedures to you. These will range from hygiene and sickness strategies through to school closure.

 If there is an outbreak of a contagious disease in or around a country or region your son or family members have visited, we ask that parents consider the other members of our school community in determining whether their son should have a time of isolation from others at school. 

If there is a perceived high risk to New Zealanders of a contagious disease we will follow the recommendations of health professionals and government agencies. 

Parents travelling or living overseas should ensure they have personal plans for the care of their son should there be a need to close the NZ border and/or the school. 

Helping us to keep our community safe and well 

Cases of infectious illness occur from time to time in schools. Their importance depends on several factors: 

1. The severity of the illness
2. The number of students and staff affected 
3. The mode of transmission 
4. The amount of fear they generate 
5. Whether any specific action is necessary to stop further cases (eg immunisation, improving food-handling practices etc.) 

Please consider the other members of our school community when deciding whether your son should be attending school and do not send your son to school if they have a contagious illness. For example, students should not return to school until 24 hours after their last bout of sickness or diarrhea. 

When we have been notified of an ‘outbreak’ by the District Health Board the stand down period increases to 48 hours after the last episode of sickness or diarrhea.