Following the work of site staff over the last few days a significant element of the main yard has been cleared giving us a partial area to evacuate the school in the event of an emergency. Unfortunately, this has not been possible on our ball yard which also forms part of the evacuation point. In addition, the council has gritted part of the pavement around the school earlier today.

As of 8pm this evening I have put a provisional proposal in place to partially open the school tomorrow for students in KS4 and KS5, with remote live lessons in place for students in KS3 on Google Classroom.

BTEC exams tomorrow include Y12 Public Service, Y13 IT & Y13 PE resit. These all take place in the morning starting at 9am - students need to be outside the venue by 8:40.

A temporary risk assessed evacuation plan will be put in place to ensure the safety of all staff and students on site tomorrow.

We will delay the start of school with registration starting at 09:30 but the school will open at 08:30 for students who get the school bus. Students in year 10 and 11 will enter through the canteen doors and sixth form through the ABB entrance. Students must be in full uniform but I will relax the rules on footwear tomorrow to allow them to wear sensible suitable footwear for the conditions.

It is important to highlight that each school’s decision is based on their unique circumstances, including the condition of their site, the availability of staff, and the specific needs of their community.

I am conscious that temperatures are set to drop again tonight so I will make a final assessment on these proposals following a site inspection at 7am tomorrow morning. Information will be shared through the normal channels of communication.

The decision to close has not been an easy one to make and I hope that the partial opening tomorrow goes some way in returning back to normal and supporting pupils who are preparing for national examinations.

I understand that icy conditions on local roads remain difficult for some families. If you are unable to safely travel to school we fully understand and would ask you to inform us of this decision.

Further gritting will take place tomorrow and over the weekend and with the temperatures set to rise into Monday I am confident that we can be fully open on Monday for all students should these conditions remain the same.

I do not take any of your support for granted and wish to thank you again for your understanding over the past week. It is certainly not how any of us envisaged starting the new year.

Please keep warm and take care.

Mr Peadar McLoughlin

Headteacher