Dear Parent/Carer
Thank you for your tremendous support this week. We know that the heat has been difficult to manage for everyone.
As we continue to experience high temperatures during this Red Weather alert, both the Infant and Junior School have been closely monitoring the situation and weather forecast.
We are doing all we can to keep children as cool as possible. Despite all of the hot weather measures we are putting in place, plus the generous donations of fans from the PTA, the temperature throughout both schools continues to rise. It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep learning areas cool in the afternoon.
As such, we are adjusting our attendance policy for this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon to ensure the comfort of our children.
Today (Thursday 25th June)
We will be operating an optional early finish today from 2.30-2.45pm. The main school entrance gates on Packhorse Road will be open from 2.30-2.45pm only for you to collect your child(ren) from outside their classroom. After 2.45pm, the gates will be closed and re-opened at normal pick up time. The Station Road gate will open at 3.10pm.
If you are unable to collect your child early today, please rest assured that school remains fully open. We will continue to run low-energy activities in the coolest parts of our building. After-school clubs will run as normal.
Tomorrow (Friday 26th June)
We are anticipating the school building to be even warmer tomorrow, with the forecast just as high and the building already warm. We plan to open school tomorrow as normal and plan to operate an optional early finish again. Whilst children can stay in school until the end of the school day, parents/carers will be able to collect children between 1.45-2pm. The main school entrance gates on Packhorse Road will be open from 1.45-2pm only for you to collect your child(ren) from outside their classroom. After 2pm, the gates will be closed and re-opened at normal pick up time. The Station Road gate will open at 3.10pm.
If you are unable to collect your child early tomorrow, please rest assured that school will remain fully open.
Please understand that both schools are unable to manage ad-hoc pickups throughout the day.
If you choose not to send in your child to school tomorrow owing to the extreme temperature, please report your child’s absence on the absence reporting line (via the school telephone number: 01332 862325) by 8.30am. Please do not send absence messages via email or Class Dojo messages.
Our PTA Fun Afternoon planned for tomorrow will be re-scheduled to another date.
We would be grateful if parents/carers could share this message on any WhatsApp groups.
Keeping the children safe and cool remains our priority. Thank you for your continued support during this challenging weather.
Kind regards
Mrs. Gibbs and Miss. Martin
Headteachers of Melbourne Infant and Junior Schools
