Hot Weather Advice for Parents and Carers July 2022
We are advising you of the precautions the school is taking in response to the very high temperatures and the Red Weather Alert that has been issued.
*Pupils are authorised to be collected to go home from school at 1.30 p.m.
on Monday, 18th July and Tuesday, 19th July*
For working parents and carers and for those unable to collect their children at this time, the school will still be open and staff will be available to care for your children until the usual collection time of 3.20 p.m.
The After-School Club will also remain open for those who will still need to use this facility.
As these temperatures are unprecedented, we have included below a link to the government guidance that has been sent to schools. This gives you a wide range of information that is useful to have in these unusual conditions.
We are listing here too some of the measures that the school is already undertaking in order to keep the children and staff as cool as possible and to follow sun safety protocol as outlined in our Sun Safety policy accessed via the link below:
On Monday and Tuesday children may wear loose, light-coloured clothing rather than the usual school uniform. Please note that this clothing should be appropriate for school. Crop tops should not be worn.
It is requested that all children bring a sun hat into school. If possible this should have a wide brim for added sun protection.
All children must bring a named water bottle into school please. This can be re-filled throughout the day. Water will be freely available in all parts of the school.
It is recommended that water bottles are frozen overnight so that they remain cool for as long as possible once the school day begins.
The children will only access the outside of the school in the cooler parts of the day.
At these times we will not be using play equipment such as skipping ropes or balls as the children will be encouraged not to run.
The school will be utilising our entire set of sun parasols in order to increase our areas of shade.
It is likely that gazebos will be used to provide extra areas of shade.
School packed lunches will be eaten indoors only and children will be encouraged to eat a normal amount. This will reduce the children’s outdoor lunchtime but in doing this the school is following up-to-date government guidance.
The school does not have air-conditioning, however precautions have been taken with the setting of the blinds and the limited use of electrical equipment in the classrooms so that rooms do not become unnecessarily over-heated.
Lights are kept off whenever possible as this can also have a cooling effect on the classrooms.
Fans are utilised in the classrooms, however at temperatures above 35°C these are not recommended as they can worsen dehydration.
We hope that this advisory information will help to alleviate your concerns about how the school will manage the expected high temperatures in the next week.
There are times when the weather is so severe, e.g. very heavy snowfall, that it is considered that the health and safety of pupils and staff are best served by closing the school.
Parents will receive a text message informing them of school closures and further updates will also be sent by text message. The school website will also contain up to date information and advice.
When exceptionally severe weather conditions are forecast for the whole authority and the police are recommending that only essential journeys should be made, the Chief Education Officer may make a decision to close all schools for pupils for the following day. A text message will be sent to staff and parents and regular updates will appear on the school website.
Parents/Carers can also access the OpenCheck link below to see if the school is open.
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