Extreme heat update

Dear Parents and Carers,

I am writing to update you on our arrangements for tomorrow, Friday 26th June.

First and foremost, I want to say how incredibly grateful I am for your continued flexibility and cooperation during what has been a very challenging week for everyone. At a personal level, I've been making decisions that I never expected to be making in my first month of headship! Navigating these unprecedented weather conditions isn’t easy, and having such an understanding and resilient parent body makes an enormous difference to all of us here at Crofton.

I know that decisions around school closures naturally bring a variety of opinions. As parents, carers, and educators, we all want the best for our children, and it is entirely understandable that people will view these situations through different lenses. Please know that, as always, I do my absolute best to make evidence-based decisions with the safety, wellbeing, and practical reality of our entire school community at the forefront of my mind.

With that in mind, I have been reviewing the Met Office data and assessing our site conditions continuously today. While the headline outdoor air temperature is forecast to drop tomorrow to around 29°C, the data shows that the indoor conditions will not be substantially different from today.

Because the temperature is remaining exceptionally high tonight—only dropping to a low of 22°C—our building has no opportunity to cool down overnight. Our 1970s infrastructure, with its flat roofs and extensive glass windows, acts like a greenhouse; it has baked in today's 37°C heat and will begin Friday morning already holding onto that trapped thermal energy. While the temperature outside is lower tomorrow, the humidity is spiking significantly. High humidity makes indoor spaces feel much more oppressive and stagnant, as the body cannot cool itself down effectively. While there is a light breeze forecast, it will unfortunately only move this hot, heavy air around rather than cooling the classrooms.

Taking all of this data into account, the evidence indicates that the climate inside our classrooms tomorrow will remain hazardous and largely unchanged from today. Therefore, Crofton School will remain closed tomorrow, Friday 26th June.

As with today, teachers will be setting work for students to complete on Microsoft Teams. I would be very grateful if you could encourage them to log on and engage with these tasks so they can keep their learning moving forward.

I am acutely aware of the disruption and childcare challenges a consecutive closure causes for working families, and I genuinely do not take this step lightly. However, keeping the school open in these specific indoor conditions would not be safe or conducive to learning for our students or staff.

We expect a much more comfortable drop in temperatures over the weekend, and we will therefore be open as normal on Monday morning.

Once again, please do keep talking to your children about managing the heat safely if they are heading out, particularly regarding the risks of unsupervised swimming or gathering on the beach or in the park.

Thank you for your patience, your trust, and your continued support as we work through this exceptional week together. I wish you all a safe, cool, and restful weekend.

With kind regards,

Mark Palmer