Greenshaw in the snow: Update
School is closed today (Friday 2nd March).
Friday 2nd March, 7.00am
School closed: Friday 2nd March
School will remain closed for the day because of the snow that is forecast during this morning, and through this afternoon. My first concern is for the safety of pupils and staff travelling to and from school, and pavements around school are currently very slippery, even before any further snowfall.
The weather is forecast to be significantly better over the weekend, so we expect to open as normal on Monday 5th March. Please assume that the school will be open at 8.30am as usual and students should come to school in full school uniform.
Thursday 1st March, 10.30pm
In the light of tomorrow's forecast for more snow, the school will be opening at 9.30am on Friday 2nd March.
The school site will be assessed for safety first thing tomorrow morning. There is a late start to allow time for a decision to be made before pupils set off for school. Parents will be notified as soon as possible by text and then the update will be posted across all media.
Thursday 1st March, 8.00am
Due to the weather, Greenshaw will be CLOSED today. We will continue to monitor the weather and will make a decision about tomorrow nearer to the time.
Despite all the efforts of the site team overnight and this morning, the site is not safe and playgrounds and paths are continuing to be covered in snow.
Unfortunately, our website provider is having technical problems with the unprecedented weight of internet traffic, so the website is slower than it should be. We will also post updates through our Twitter and Facebook pages and the School App.
Wednesday 28th February, 4.15pm
In the light of tomorrow's forecast for more snow, the school will be opening at 9.30am. We will also be doing the same on Friday morning. We hope this will avoid students that have lengthy journeys to school arriving an hour or more before it is open. We also hope this will give families greater notice if we do need to change this plan for any reason. Students may wear suitable footwear (preferably waterproof) to school and for lessons tomorrow.
Wednesday 28th February, 12.00pm
Thanks to the great work from our site team last night, and then again from 6.00am this morning, school is now underway absolutely as usual. Playgrounds and paths were treated last night before the snow, and again when the first site team members arrive from six in the morning. We did attempt a snowman competition from 9 o’clock when the students came in, but it wasn’t ‘that kind of snow’, so the entries were generally fairly small in nature!
I hope families appreciate that we will rarely be able to make a decision overnight, as we need enough staff on site to assess the safety of playgrounds and paths. This is also generally best done when there is daylight. So we will continue to use text and email, and use the website home page to communicate. We aim to do this by 7.00am, but often this is not possible until nearer to 7.30am.
At the time of writing this (midday on Wednesday), there appears to be no reason to suggest that school will not open as normal on Thursday. However, please check your phone or tablet for any updates.
Nick House (Headteacher, Greenshaw High School)