Most of Red Lane Community Primary School will re-open on Monday - update
For the latest updates please go to the school's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/redlaneprimaryschool/
Friday 26 Oct -
Contractors have just finished carrying out final cleaning and safety checks. All classrooms that were not directly affected by the fire have been cleaned and deemed safe. Now that this has taken place we are in a position to confirm arrangements for next week.
Firstly, it is thanks to the works that took place over the summer that the fire was contained. The new fire doors did an excellent job at preventing the fire from spreading and many areas on the infant building were unaffected. Senior leaders, staff and contractors have been working hard to ensure that any disruption is minimised.
Out of School Club will be open as normal. School will open as normal for pupils in Year 1-6 on Monday. KS2 will enter and be dismissed from their usual locations. Year 1C ,Y1E and Year 2C will line up and be collected from their usual points each day. Year 2B have temporarily been relocated to the KS2 building. They will line up on the lower playground alongside Y3&5. Staff will be on hand to guide people. Children in 2B will be dismissed from this door also.
Despite the best efforts of staff there will be a partial closure affecting Under Threes, Nursery and Reception. Pupils will return on Wednesday 31st October.
The Early Years Unit was the main area destroyed by the fire. We have looked at various options to ensure provision can continue as soon as possible. The use of portacabins or temporary on site buildings was not feasible as this would require planning permission and would take a number of weeks to get set up. We have been able to create space for Reception pupils in school. To limit further disruption, we have secured the use of the Brightmeadows Children’s Centre and pupils in Under Threes and Nursery will be based here. The start times for U3 and Nursery will be altered slightly in order that parents can drop off and collect children at school and then at Nursery. Morning session for U3 & Nursery will be from 9-12. Afternoon sessions will be from 12.45-3.45. Nursery lunches will be provided as normal. Any parents with children in Nursery and Out of School Club will be contacted on Monday.
We thank you once again for all your support at this difficult time. The response from parents and the community has been fantastic
Thurs 25 Oct - “It has been a busy day at school yesterday. The gas, water and electricity has been reinstated for areas of the infant building that are not damaged by the fire yesterday.
“This means that staff will now be able to access part of the building today to begin the process of relocating classrooms to alternative parts of the school.
“The building is now fully secure, but we have continued the extensive security measures that have been in place since Sunday. Many local residents have noticed the increased security at the school site.
“We have been out to source furniture and resources for our temporary work spaces. We would like to thank everyone who has offered help and support with this- especially The Valley Primary School and Surestart for the loan of both furniture and resources. We will also welcome your donations as mentioned on yesterday's update.
“Our insurers and contractors have met with the Senior Leaders and the Chair of The Trust, to discuss the work that will need to be done and the extensive clean up operation can now begin fully so that children can return to school as normal.
“We anticipate that Years 1-6 will return as normal on Monday but will keep you informed about the Under 3s provision, Nursery and Reception in the coming few days, we are trying our hardest to get everyone back in school, as planned on Monday.
“As always our children are our number one priority and we remain committed to minimising disruption to both our pupils and parents. We thank you for your continued amazing support during this difficult period.”
Monday 22 October PM - Update from the school:
“We would firstly like to thank the emergency services and especially the fire service, their swift action has ensured that damage to the school was limited.
“The senior leadership team have been on site yesterday and today and can report that there is extensive damage to our nursery and early years classrooms and there has been some secondary damage to a further classroom.
“We are really thankful and overwhelmed with the response from the community and have been flooded with well wishes and we are really grateful.
“We are currently working with the local authority to assess the impact of the fire and working to get essential services resumed and begin the clean up operation.
“At this stage, we are working as hard as we can to arrange alternative provisions to ensure we can reopen as normal after half term.
“We are co-operating fully with the police investigation and in collaboration with them have now had chance to review our CCTV footage.
“As ever, we remain committed to our children, and our top priority is to ensure that their education is not interrupted as a result of this awful event.”
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Monday 22 October AM - We are aware of the fire at Red Lane Community Primary in Breightmet yesterday.
The fire was fully extinguished in the afternoon and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue service remained at the scene overnight.
We are working with the school and we will provide further updates from them as available.