17 February 2022                                                   

Dear Parent/Carer,

Remote learning tomorrow due to Red Weather Warning

You will be aware from the news that a rare Red Weather Warning has been issued by the Met Office for much of the South West as Storm Eunice is expected to bring strong winds and result in disruption for much of Friday.

Taking into account advice and the information that is currently available, we have assessed the threat to our community and I have made the decision to move us to remote learning tomorrow. This means that the school buildings will be closed and students and staff should work from home.

This is not a decision that I have taken lightly and is based on the following:

• Many of our students and staff  travel to school down lanes and over steep hills
• A large proportion of our staff and students will be attempting to make journeys through the red warning sector which could put them at risk of harm
• The red weather warning poses a significant risk to life from a danger of flying debris, fallen trees and power cables down and the amber warning equally poses a threat to safe travel.

For this reason, I must remind you to not let your daughter/son out tomorrow during the storm. They must attend school, albeit remotely. Learning is incredibly important, but our priority has to be to keep everyone safe. Remote learning is not ideal, but I would rather sacrifice one day moving to remote learning than potentially sacrifice the health or life of a member of our community in getting to school in such terrible conditions.

Lessons will be available using Google Classroom and staff will share codes to join in. There will be work on Google Classroom if anyone has issues connecting to Google Meet tomorrow.

We have amazingly dedicated staff and students at Drybrook and I know that they will work through their lessons tomorrow but if you can encourage and support them as I know you did during the Covid closures, that would be appreciated.

Thank you for your support and I wish everybody a safe day tomorrow and a restful half term.

Yours sincerely

Thomas Henesey