Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
A meeting took place this afternoon with the various parties attempting to resolve the air quality issue we are currently experiencing in school. Representing Gilded Hollins were D Nash, Headteacher, Mrs E Haworth, Chair of Governors and Mrs J Boardman, Caretaker and Health and Safety Governor.
Also in attendance were representatives of the local authority, including the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Officer, representatives of School’s property consultant NPS, and the Resource and Environmental Consultants Ltd., who have been conducting analysis tests in school.
As a result of this meeting it has been agreed that we shall remain at Lowton CE High School for a further week.
All the compounds for which we already have results have returned within acceptable levels. The final outcome from more detailed analysis is due back by Tuesday.
In the meantime, a range of measures have been put in place to provide ongoing updates on the environment within our building. Among these are air composition sensors that will remain in school indefinitely.
Next week, we intend to remove an old Air Handling Unit in the school ceiling void and the ducting connected to it. This should be completed by the middle of the week.
On Wednesday, everyone who met today will gather again for feedback on the detailed analysis that has taken place this week.
Then on Thursday and Friday a deep clean team will enter school in preparation for, it is envisaged, a return on Monday 5th October.
Obviously, we hope to be back at Gilded Hollins as soon as possible and we are doing all in our power to ensure the building is safe for your children, and staff, to return.
In the meantime, Mr Pollard and everyone at Lowton CE High School continue to be incredible hosts. Nothing is too much trouble and they have gone out of their way to make us welcome and help us maintain the quality education to which our children are accustomed. We can’t thank them enough for everything they have done for us and our children.
A thank you, also, to you for your continued patience at this difficult time.
Update for 21.9.15
School meals provider, Dolce, have agreed to make hot lunches available at Lowton CE High School from tomorrow (Tuesday). Lowton Junior and Infant School have very kindly agreed to share their kitchen facilities, and our staff will cook meals at their site and then transport them across to Lowton CE High School. A reduced menu will be available and for further details please visit www.live-kitchen.co.uk To assist us in providing the meals we ask that wherever possible you order in advance via the Live Kitchen website. We currently do not have access to the Live Kitchen console so minimising the number of pupils ordering their meal in the mornings will help reduce paperwork.
Anyone experiencing problems with the Live Kitchen website, or with ordering, can call 0150 630 0310 for further information.
For those of you who have enquired about P.E. days to enable you to send in a sports kit with your child, please see below:
Reception – no kit required
Year One – Tuesdays and Thursdays
Year Two - Tuesdays and Thursdays
Year Three - Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Year Four – Wednesday and Fridays (Swimming kit for Friday, please)
Year Five - Mondays and Thursdays
Year Six - Mondays and Thursdays
The Year One and Two After School Multiskills Club tomorrow (and the Year Three and Four Multiskills on Thursday) will go ahead at Lowton CE High School this week. Academy of Sports will run the multiskills sessions in M Block, next to the all weather pitches at the top of the car park. They will get the children changed at hometime and escort them to M Block along with their belongings. Please collect your child from M Block at 4.30pm if they have previously received a note from school allocating them a place.
Plans for an Active Kids Club on Wednesdays have now been shelved until after the half term break.
Lowton CE High School’s Headteacher, Mr Julian Pollard, is inviting our Year Six and Five parents to a meeting tomorrow at the end of the school day. The meeting is intended to relay to parents his vision for the future of Lowton CE High School, and will be an excellent opportunity to find out more about the school. Your children will also be very welcome to attend. We’ll meet you at the usual collection point at the end of the day tomorrow to take you to the meeting room.
An update on Gilded Hollins: A second tranche of air quality tests have been set up at various points in the building today with a view to identifying the cause of our recent issues. We’ll keep you up to date as more information becomes available.
Finally, a huge thank you to those of you able to attend the rearranged Autumn Fayre in Pennington Park on Saturday. The weather was kind to us and there was plenty to keep young and old entertained. The Friends did an amazing job of relocating at short notice. I’m sure it was a stressful time for them, but they did us all proud – superstars one and all!
As you are aware, we will be at Lowton High for at least the coming week while further analysis takes place at Gilded Hollins. We are hoping to have further updates on air quality by the middle of the week.
We have arranged for usual P.E. lessons to take place this week. Please could you send your child with a kit on their P.E. days. This can be any T-shirt and shorts (including football kits) and pumps / trainers. We will ask the children to return these home the same day and then bring them back for their next P.E. lesson. Transporting 210 P.E. kits over from Gilded Hollins last week was not feasible as we have nowhere to store them at Lowton.
A meeting has been set up with school meal provider Dolce on Monday morning to explore the possibility of using the canteen we have been allocated to provide hot meals. The canteen does not have equipment to cook meals on site, but we may be to use the kitchens of neighbouring schools and deliver hot food to Lowton. In the meantime, please provide a packed lunch and drink for Monday.
Tomcat individual photos due to take place this week have been rearranged for 30th November / 1st December and the Friends’ AGM set for tomorrow evening has been cancelled. In addition, the Year Six Macmillan Coffee Afternoon due to take place on Friday will now be pencilled-in for later in the year. Music lessons have also been cancelled next week.
A reminder that a Gilded Hollins breakfast club starts tomorrow at Lowton High. As you arrive at the school gates turn right before entering the car park, walk up the path and knock on the door of the J Block canteen. Our staff will be waiting for you there. The usual breakfast will be available from 7.45am.
Dear Parent / Carer,
An update on plans for tomorrow and next week.
The air analysis tests carried out this week have unfortunately proved inconclusive. As we have stated previously, we are not prepared to risk the wellbeing of your children until we have an ‘all clear’ and, as a result, we have asked for a second, broader, set of tests. These will take place over Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week, with the new results due back by the end of the week. The plan is to seal the school over those days in a bid allow the atmosphere inside to settle. As usual, we will let you know the outcome as soon as we can.
Lowton CE High have very kindly allowed us to continue to use their facilities for the whole of next week. Just to reassure you, we will be at Lowton this coming Monday even though the site is also being used as an educational activities day for other primary schools.
We plan to restart P.E. lessons at Lowton on the usual days next week and it would assist us greatly if you could send your child with t-shirt, shorts and pumps / trainers on those P.E days.
We will also enter into negotiations with school meals providers tomorrow (Friday) to try to provide hot meals on site from Monday. In the meantime, please send your child with a packed lunch and drink (as well as their water bottle) for tomorrow.
Year Four swimming will go ahead tomorrow with the coach picking up and dropping off at Lowton CE High.
The coach bringing Year Six back from Low Bank Ground tomorrow will also drop off at Lowton CE High from approximately 3.30pm onwards.
We are hoping to have a Breakfast Club up and running at Lowton from Monday. Please watch the website for further details tomorrow.
From tomorrow morning we are also asking Reception, Years One and Two children to be dropped off and picked up at Lowton High’s Main Entrance (right outside B Block and opposite the car park roundabout). Everyone else please make your way up to the all weather pitches as this morning and we will collect your children there. If everyone could arrive for 8.50am tomorrow that would be great.
Unfortunately, next week’s music tuition, including brass lessons, will be cancelled.
Please keep an eye out tomorrow for news about the Autumn Fayre. Gilded Hollins will not be able to host the event, but an alternative venue may be available.
One final note to thank you all for your support and good humour today. It was good to see both you and your children.
D Nash
Dear Parent / Carer,
With results still not returned from the air analysis tests carried out in school, Lowton CE High School have very kindly agreed to let us have use of their facilities until our own building is available.
We are asking that parents bring their children to Lowton CE High for 9.00am tomorrow (Thursday). Gilded Hollins staff and Lowton High prefects will meet you at the roundabout on the school car park and escort you to a meeting point on the playground adjoining the all weather pitch.
We have been allocated an entire block of classrooms separate from the high school pupils, along with two playgrounds specifically for our use and a canteen solely for our pupils. Each of our classes will have a room of their own. However, it does seem likely that some interaction with high school pupils will be impossible to avoid during the day as we move around site.
Tomorrow will be the first occasion that our Reception Class will have been brought together as a full cohort and they will be placed in a separate block with their own toilet facilities, etc. We are currently awaiting the arrival of a van to take our own Reception furniture across to Lowton CE High.
Lowton CE High requests that you walk up to the high school tomorrow as they will not be able to accommodate a large number of cars arriving at the gates for health and safety reasons.
We ask that you provide your child with a packed lunch for the day as canteen facilities in school will not be available at such short notice. Children should be wearing their school uniform and bring with them all the things they would need for a usual day at Gilded Hollins, including their water bottle.
Please collect your children at 3.25pm as usual. We will escort children to the morning’s assembly point for you to collect them there.
We anticipate that this contingency plan will for both Thursday and Friday this week.
There will be no breakfast club facilities available tomorrow.
Many thanks for your patience.
D Nash
As you are aware, school has been closed for tests following the discovery of an unpleasant, unidentified odour in parts of the building.
In the first instance, an emergency gas team was called on Thursday evening, but could find no evidence of a leak.
Then, in discussion with staff at our Friday morning briefing, it came to light that colleagues had been suffering various symptoms that may have been related to the odour.
As there were potential health and safety concerns for pupils and staff I immediately contacted the school’s property consultant (NPS) to ask them to assess and advise on the situation. A NPS representative arrived on Friday afternoon and he arranged for investigations and testing to take place that day.
Tests carried out on Friday were inconclusive so a specialist consultant was arranged to attend on Monday to carry out more extensive analysis covering all areas where evidence of odours had been reported. Building and engineering companies were also contracted to inspect all areas, including roof voids.
In discussion with Governors and the local authority, the decision was made to close school on Monday.
It was originally expected that the results of the tests carried out by the specialist would be available the same day. However, during Monday it became clear that results would not be available until late on Tuesday afternoon at the earliest.
A decision then had to be made about opening school on Tuesday. While we were still unable to pinpoint the source of the odour the decision was made to remain closed for another day. Parents were informed via the Call Parent system as soon as possible.
By Tuesday lunchtime the laboratory then reported that the analysis was taking longer than originally planned. Although the company is giving our case priority, the amount of testing we requested and the time to process each means that results are now only due on Wednesday. That being the case, and given the logic we applied in closing on Tuesday, we have no option but to remain closed for a further day. Therefore, school will be closed on Wednesday.
I hope the above goes some way to explain the dilemma presented to school over the last few days. We have endeavoured to work as quickly as possible to resolve a situation where there have been no simple solutions.
I can assure you that every effort is being made to ensure the air quality is safe as soon as possible. Unless assured of this, the Governors and myself are not prepared to put at risk the health and wellbeing of your children and the school’s staff.
Of course, we understand that closing school presents problems for many of our families, but our duty of care is to our children, and what is right for them will always take priority.
Thank you.
D Nash
Unfortunately, school will remain closed on Tuesday 15th September. This is a precautionary measure while we await the results of air quality testing carried out today.
We are working hard to trace the identity and source of an odour detected in parts of our building.
The testing laboratory assures us that results of their investigations will be available by late tomorrow afternoon, at which point the situation can be reassessed.
Once again, many apologies for the inconvenience this situation has caused, but the health and wellbeing of the children and staff must take priority.
Please look out for updates via the text service and the school website.
Thank you for your patience.
Dear Parents / Carers,
School will be closed on Monday 14th September as a precautionary measure while work is carried out to test the building’s air quality.
This was not a planned exercise, but has been deemed necessary in light of the discovery of an unidentified odour in parts of the school.
Initial tests have ruled out a gas leak, but until we can locate the origin of the odour and confirm its cause, we need to ensure the wellbeing of your children and school staff.
This decision has not been made lightly, but has been taken in consultation with Governors, senior staff and the professionals who attended school on Friday afternoon.
We are hoping to have a resolution to the odour issue by the end of Monday, when a decision will be made as to whether school will re-open on Tuesday.
We will send a message via text as soon as we are able.
The Year Six trip to Low Bank Ground will go ahead as planned. Please make your way to the hall door as arranged and we will meet you there.
We understand that this situation will cause inconvenience and for that we apologise. However, the health and safety of your children and staff will always be paramount.