Dear Parent/Carer,

Thank you for your patience following the recent school closure. No doubt, it will have caused many families difficulties with child care and all of our staff realise that and wish to rectify the situation as soon as possible.

Mrs Rutherford has been negotiating with the local council to try to have the roads to the school cleared and gritted. Unfortunately, due to the adverse weather conditions, their priorities are to clear and treat major roads and not school access routes.

We are doing everything possible to re-open on Monday 11^th January but staff have had considerable difficulty getting to and from school. It took me three and a half hours to get home on Tuesday night. Some staff have had car accidents, many had to abandon their cars (although they have them back now). Miss Heron could only reach home by tractor! I therefore predict that we will not be able to be fully staffed, if indeed we are able to open at all.

Whilst we will be doing everything possible to open the school on Monday, I suggest you as parents and carers make the decision for your own children dependent upon your own personal circumstances. If you can get your child/children to school safely (and of course, you can collect them again safely) we will have staff there to care for them. They will be given their attendance mark even if you are late. You can also collect your child earlier than usual if you need to. Please note that all staff will also be sent home early and told to leave at 3.30pm.

On Monday and Tuesday of last week we had many children sent to school dressed for a summer day! Lots of children wore only a t-shirt, some had no coat, some girls wore ankle socks and many, many children had no gloves. If your child does come to school on Monday, please see the suggestions below:

• Make sure your child has layers of clothing
• Note that trousers and socks tend to be wet by the time your child has walked to school and they get wet again when they go outside for fresh air. Please send spare clothing.
• Wear more than one pair of socks - little toes were getting very cold!!
• Please provide warm coats, gloves, hats and scarves. (A second pair of gloves would be appreciated if you have them).
• Wellies or boots are much better than trainers or school shoes for walking to school and play time. You would be best to send a change of shoes if they don't already have a change of shoes at school.

For those of you who feel it is unsafe to send your children to school from where you live, or, if you will have trouble collecting them, I will be instructing teachers to put work on our school website for every class. If your child can show us that they have worked from home, they will also get their school attendance mark. Don't forget that Sam Learning and Education City is always available for your child to learn from at home. They could also make sure that they read lots, learn their times tables and do a diary or a story about 'The Big Freeze'.

Please check our website or ring the school phone number on 4334019 for a short pre-recorded message to keep you updated. I hope this information has been helpful to you and we sill see you all very soon!

Take care,

Mrs J. Goodfellow

(Headteacher)