Rongotai College has Emergency Evacuation Procedures which have been developed with input and feedback from Civil Defence. We hold regular evacuation drills and have outlined our procedures for students.

In the event of an emergency such as major destructive earthquake or fire at the school, students will be held at school and not be allowed to leave the school grounds until dismissed by myself or a Deputy Principal acting on behalf of the Principal, and a decision made if they can go home directly or if they should be collected by their parents or a person listed as an emergency contact. For the safety of all, it is important in these circumstances that parents check with the school office or administration before collecting students and taking them off-site. The school holds stocks of water as well as medical equipment and blankets in case we are required to keep students safe at school and a skeleton staff will remain with the students.

In the case of an evacuation for a tsunami, our procedure will be to evacuate to the west, heading to Melrose Park, where toilet facilities are available.  Students in Tamatoa and those in wheelchairs will go to and wait to be collected by whanau from 42 Tirangi road.  Again, a skeleton staff will remain with students until they are collected by parents. We held a drill for a tsunami alert last term, to see how long it took to evacuate the campus. We did not head to Melrose Park, but it gave us a good indication of how long it would take.

If and when it is deemed appropriate by the school that students need to be collected from either the school (in the event of an earthquake) or Melrose Park (following a tsunami evacuation), this will be communicated to parents by:

• An announcement that will be made on the local radio stations.
• A message left on the school phone (939 3050) asking parents to collect their children immediately.
• If we have access to our servers, we will send a SMS and/or emails sent out to all parents that we have cell phone or email contact details.
• A message sent via the School Bridge app.
• A message on the school website and Facebook page.
• A telephone call by form teachers if it is practicable.