Bushfire Safety Planning

PBPS Bushfire safety planning

As part of our Emergency Management Plan, PBPS engages in annual preparations prior to the start of bushfire season. Our planning considers:

• Processes and procedures that our school will undertake before and during the bushfire season.
• Preparation measures including maintenance of facilities and vegetation.
• Response measures that our school will take when faced with a bushfire, including evacuation or shelter in place locations.
• Recovery measures to support the return of normal school services.

Our school is included on the NSW department of education’s bushfire register as Category 1: the highest risk category. For this reason, we are required to have a bushfire response as part of our Emergency Management Plan.

Schools determined as Category 1, are required to temporarily cease operations on days when a Catastrophic Fire Danger Rating (FDR) is issued in their NSW Fire Area. During the bushfire season, FDR’s are issued by the Bureau of Meteorology each afternoon for the following day to allow for proactive ceasing of operations where required. It will be important for our school community to monitor predicted weather events and communicate regularly with our school community. Our main method of communication is skoolbag, although we are modifying our planning to consider including utilising the P&C’s Facebook page as an additional avenue to share school health and safety alerts. Such alerts will include reminders about air quality, expected high-risk bushfire alert days, planning around catastrophic fire danger days, scheduled emergency evacuation drills, etc.

The school will only receive notification of a Catastrophic Fire Danger Rating after school hours the day before the forecast is issued. To assist me in contacting all parents, please ensure that you have provided the school with up-to-date home or after hours contact details. Additionally, it is recommended that you have downloaded our school’s Skoolbag App and the Fires Near Me App from the App Store to stay informed of any changes to routines and of upcoming fire warnings.

School-based emergency lessons - teaching our students to be prepared and follow instructions in a calm, safe way during an emergency

Please view the video lessons with your family below, particularly if you are worried about your child during an emergency drill or if they have expressed anxiety relating to bushfire season.

Following emergency practices at school, teachers debrief with all students to ensure that students felt calm, confident, attentive and prepared during the rehearsal. If your child is worried about participation in emergency drills, please speak to your child's teacher.  

View our Shelter In Place lesson below.  

Key messages: 

• stay calm
• listen to your teacher
• follow direction calmly and quietly 
• taking shelter in the library is a safe option
• the school has excellent processes in place to ensure safety for all during an emergency  

View our Emergency Evacuation lesson below: 

Key messages: 

• stay calm
• listen to your teacher
• follow directions calmly and quietly 
• The school has evacuation plans in place to ensure safety for all during an emergency
• knowing what to do in an evacuation supports students to feel safe and prepared in the event of an emergency.

Bushfire Planning Documents

Please view the following school documents below:

• Bushfire plan (1 page summary)
• PBPS Bushfire Plan
• PBPS Prepare your School Bushfire Checklist
• PBPS Emergency Management Plan
• Advice for the community 

Have you got a family safety plan?

visit the RFS site via the link to access helpful information on how you can prepare your family for bushfire season.