Flood Action Week: Have You Properly Planned for Flooding?

Espresso & Geography Podcast Short – Released 10th October 2026

This is a shorter post than usual because it accompanies an Espresso & Geography episode and has a very practical purpose. Flood Action Week runs from 12 to 18 October 2026, and I want as many education settings as possible to use the campaign as an opportunity to check whether flood risk is properly reflected in emergency planning, safeguarding and school Climate Action Plans.

The timing of this year’s campaign feels particularly important. The UK has moved through another period of climatic extremes, with very dry conditions affecting rivers and water supplies while the longer-term trend continues towards warmer, wetter winters and more intense rainfall. The current El Niño is also among the strongest observed, with the World Meteorological Organization forecasting further intensification towards a peak in December 2026.

The UK impacts of El Niño are less direct and predictable than those experienced in parts of the tropics. However, the Met Office seasonal outlook indicates that wetter-than-average autumn conditions are more likely than usual, with the influence of El Niño increasing the probability of wetter and stormier weather across north-west Europe during autumn and early winter.

This increase in risk doesn’t necessarily mean disaster is definitely coming, in fact, this is exactly why preparedness is important. No community or education setting should wait until heavy rain is already falling, or for local roads to be underwater, or flood waterentering the site before deciding who is responsible for what. After all, emergency preparedness is both a Health & Safety and safeguarding statutory duty.

Flood risk is already a school issue

Nearly half of England’s schools and educational settings, 10,710 in total, are located in areas at risk of flooding. The number is expected to increase to at least 13,662 by the 2050s as the climate changes. In the worst-case scenario identified in earlier government analysis, the total could reach 16,394.

Those statistics cover a wide range of risk levels and flood sources. Being located within an area of risk does not mean that a particular school will inevitably flood. It does mean that leaders need to know what forms of flooding are possible and how water could affect the setting.

River flooding is only one part of the picture. Schools may also face risks from surface water flowing across roads and hard surfaces, groundwater, reservoirs, coastal flooding, drainage problems or a combination of several sources.

Surface-water flooding can be especially difficult because it may affect places that do not appear to be close to a river. A playground, car park or access road can collect or channel intense rainfall, while drains and culverts may be overwhelmed or blocked.

The official long-term flood-risk service allows settings to investigate risk from rivers and the sea, surface water, reservoirs and, where information is available, groundwater. It also provides information about how climate change could increase risk.

While the map shouldn’t be used as a predictive tool that an individual building will flood, it certainly should be used as a starting point for asking better questions.

What would flooding interrupt?

When school leaders think about flooding, the first image may be water entering classrooms. That is an obvious risk, but the official checklist encourages a much wider view.

• Would pupils and staff still be able to reach the site safely?
• Could the main entrance, car park or surrounding roads become impassable?
• Are there footbridges, culverts, ditches or low points where water could accumulate?
• Where are electrical systems, servers, pupil records, laboratory chemicals, medical supplies and specialist equipment?
• Could kitchens, food stores or heating systems be affected?
• Which areas could remain safe and operational?
• Could another part of the site be used temporarily?
• What arrangements exist for pupils whose transport or home circumstances are disrupted?

The Environment Agency and Department for Education checklist asks schools to map vulnerable assets and infrastructure, assess access routes, identify safe areas, review insurance and consider how hazardous materials could create pollution risks during flooding.

This is where flood preparedness connects directly with continuity of education. Even where water does not enter a classroom, damaged roads, unsafe access, disrupted public transport, power loss or affected catering facilities may force a closure.

The educational effects may continue after the water has gone. Buildings need assessment, drying and repair. Equipment may need replacing. Families may have been displaced from their homes. Staff may be managing damage to their own properties while trying to support pupils. Some children may experience anxiety when heavy rain returns.

A meaningful plan therefore needs to consider recovery as well as the immediate emergency.

Flooding belongs in the Climate Action Plan

The Department for Education expects education settings to develop Climate Action Plans, and flood preparedness belongs naturally within the Adaptation and Resilience pillar.

The official flood-risk checklist should not sit in a separate folder, detached from the Climate Action Plan and reviewed only after an incident. Its findings can inform actions, responsibilities and priorities across the setting. A school might identify actions such as:

• registering relevant staff for flood and weather warnings
• mapping surface-water flow across the site
• reviewing drainage, gutters, culverts and ditches
• relocating vulnerable equipment or records
• introducing permeable surfaces, rain gardens or planting
• reviewing emergency communication arrangements
• identifying alternative access and teaching spaces
• checking insurance and recovery arrangements
• including flood scenarios in exercises and staff training
• making contact with the local authority, Environment Agency or community flood group

Some measures require capital investment. Others begin with awareness, maintenance, communication and planning.

The plan should also recognise that flood risk is not static. Development elsewhere in the catchment, changes to drainage, soil condition, vegetation, new hard surfaces and the changing climate can all alter how water moves. An assessment completed several years ago may no longer describe the current level of risk.

Flood preparedness is safeguarding

I have increasingly come to see climate-related hazards as part of contextual safeguarding.

Flood water may contain sewage, chemicals, sharp objects and hidden hazards. Children should never be encouraged to enter or play in it. Electricity, unstable ground, moving water and damaged infrastructure can all create serious danger.

There are also less visible inequalities in how people experience an event. Some families will have insurance, transport, flexible employment and somewhere else to stay. Others may have none of those things. Pupils with medical needs, disabilities or additional support needs may require particular planning during evacuation or disruption.

A setting cannot solve every vulnerability affecting the wider community, but it can plan with those differences in mind.

Schools are also trusted sources of information. Clear communication about warnings, closures, collection arrangements and safe behaviour can help families make decisions without adding unnecessary confusion.

This is why preparedness should involve more than the estates team. Senior leaders, safeguarding leads, site staff, business managers, IT, catering, SEND teams, communications staff and curriculum colleagues may all hold part of the necessary knowledge.

If you are a member of school staff, or governor who has any involved in safeguarding, please consider downloading the KCSIE 2026 climate-literate safeguarding annex, which contains scenarios to get you thinking about actions schools can take in the event of a flood.

An opportunity for geographical education

Flood Action Week is also an opportunity to help children and young people understand the geography around them.

The Geographical Association and Environment Agency have produced free resources for primary and secondary settings, including assemblies, tutor materials and lesson activities. The resources explore why flood risk is increasing, the impacts of flooding and actions individuals and communities can take.

This shouldn’t become another occasion for placing the responsibility for climate change onto children. Pupils can learn practical preparedness without being told that individual behaviour alone will prevent disasters. The curriculum can instead connect physical processes with human decisions. Rainfall becomes flooding through the interaction of weather, rivers, soil, drainage, built surfaces, land use, infrastructure, planning and vulnerability.

Pupils can investigate their local area, interpret maps, identify pathways through which water might move, consider how natural flood management works and explore how decisions made upstream affect communities downstream.

The school’s own Climate Action Plan can become part of that learning. Young people can contribute observations and ideas while adults retain responsibility for safety, technical assessment and implementation.

Check, register, review

If a school does only three things during Flood Action Week, I would suggest these (click on the headings to expand):

The review may show that an education setting is already doing some useful things. It may identify a simple maintenance issue or communication gap. It may reveal the need for more substantial investigation or investment. Any of those is definitely more useful than discovering the weakness during a flood.

The podcast recording was intentionally brief, and I didn’t attempt to explain every kind of flood or every aspect of emergency planning. My purpose is to point people towards tools that already exist and encourage settings to use them.

We can’t know whether a particular school will flood this autumn or winter. Seasonal forecasting cannot tell us exactly when or where severe rainfall will occur, and El Niño does not determine an individual UK weather event.

However we do know that flood risk is already widespread, climate change is increasing the likelihood of more intense rainfall, and thousands of schools are located within areas where flooding is possible.

While preparedness won’t remove every impact, being proactive can reduce confusion, protect important assets, support faster decisions and help a school recover more effectively.

Flood Action Week provides a prompt to begin or renew that work before it is needed.

Many thanks to Becky Watters and Tom Collins at the Environment Agency’s Education Team for providing information and working hard to ensure education settings and those of us who work with them can spread the word about Flood Action Week 2026.