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Clarification on St Martin’s School - 668/2020

September 29, 2020

The letter in question was alerting the parents to the possibility of the children being released earlier than usual due to high temperatures following particularly hot afternoons last week. These temperatures had not been reached in the weeks before since full days commenced.

Public Health advice during the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that air conditioners cannot be kept on while classes are occupied, and doors and windows have to be kept shut for safety reasons.

Steps taken today have so far proved successful and it is hoped that classes will not need to finish early. These steps include leaving air conditioners on when children are not in class, including overnight, provision of more wall-mounted fans, regular wash-down of the rubber crumb surfaces in the play areas in order to cool them, and providing gates so that doors can remain open without danger to the children.
These steps were already planned, but the letter was issued in order to have ensure openness and transparency with the parents, who are key stakeholders in the school. It would have been far worse to have kept them in the dark.

Minister for Education, Prof John Cortes, said: “The GSD may have preferred for the children to remain in class in those hot conditions, or for them to have been sent home without alerting the parents in advance. Neither would have been acceptable, and so the School did what it had to do and kept the parents informed, while taking all possible action to avoid early closure.”


ENDS