Good afternoon,
Firstly, on behalf of the staff and management of Tullow Community School I would like to wish our students and their families a happy new year.
From a school’s perspective we certainly haven’t had the ideal start to the new year, but I am sure many students also embraced the sight of snow with great excitement.
However, safety is our first consideration when making the tough decision to close the school. Over the past number of days, the school management team have spent much time looking at our options and communicating with various sectors to ensure we make the best decision for all members of the school community.
We have also been working very hard to try and make the school grounds a safe place for students and staff to return to, but I must stress that despite our best efforts the weather conditions dictate that extreme caution is required when on the school grounds.
Bearing this in mind, we do intend to reopen tomorrow, Wednesday 8th January. However, this will be a deferred opening with doors open at 11.00am and classes beginning at 11.15am. We are very conscious that the coldest of this weather system is yet to hit us and because of this we urge students, parents and staff to take your time coming into school. In the greater scheme of things not being able to make it in or being a little late is not the greatest concern – staying safe is! We want everyone to arrive safely to school, if you feel it is safe to travel.
We will provide soup and rolls to students at lunchtime tomorrow, this will hopefully encourage them to stay in the building during their break. In the interest of safety students are not permitted to play with ice/snow while in school.
We will continue to monitor the weather conditions in the morning, if we need to change our plans to reopen, I will inform you by text as soon as reasonably possible.
Please note that the bus companies will not be operating until further notice.
Take care and stay safe.
N Murphy
