Can individual schools/early years and childcare settings close for local reasons? Who would take the decision?
Yes. While DCSF encourages all schools to stay open, and operate safely, individual schools may face temporary problems that would lead them to close (for example, unusually high levels of staff absence). The power to close a school lies with the employer (which means the local authority for community and voluntary controlled schools; the governing body for voluntary aided and foundation schools and academies and non-maintained special schools; and the proprietor for independent schools). In practice, the decision is often delegated to the head teacher/setting head or manager/childminder.
