Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope that the many families who have been without water are now getting back to normal - as are we in school.
Can I thank you all for the overwhelming support regarding the school closure. This is always a very difficult decision and school closure should always be our last resort. I do understand that this situation does cause stress and anxiety for families and we have had a small amount of feedback expressing this. Because of this, I thought it would be useful to give an overview of how and why decisions have been made.
During Sunday we were aware that the leak had not been repaired and that Bristol Water were having to deal with a second leak. We were in contact with Bristol Water but had no more information than the general public. At this point we contacted parents that there was the possibility of school closure and that we advised parents to plan accordingly.
Late in the afternoon Bristol City Council’s Director of Education and his team got in touch to offer advice and support. Later in the evening they informed us that the leak was expected to be repaired overnight and advised us to make a final decision in the morning. Under the circumstances, and considering we all understood there was a good chance the problem would be solved overnight, I followed this advice which I believe was the correct thing to do. Had the water been repaired as expected, the school could have opened as normal.
In the morning Mrs Harvey confirmed that the water was still not working and I contacted Bristol City Council to confirm to check for any last minute updates, which there were not. I made the decision to close the school at 6.28 and Miss Morse texted parents soon afterwards and Mr Prichard updated Facebook.
Unfortunately, we were then made aware that some texts had arrived, some were delayed and some did not arrive. We then shared this information on Facebook, the website and via the Arbor app hoping that everybody could spread the word. I do apologise for this and we are currently looking and how we can improve our texting system so this does not happen again.
Regarding the decision to close, under these circumstances (including bad weather) there will always be those who feel a decision is made too late or too soon. We always want to do our best to give clarity and avoid inconvenience but also to keep the school open when we can and above all keep everyone safe.
Kind regards
Matt Condon