Dear Barking Abbey community, We have been monitoring the current heatwave and we can see that temperatures are expected to be close to 38oC on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon this week. We have already relaxed our uniform requirements and looked at what we can do in school to make this more bearable. I am minded that we have a combination of old, very old and new buildings on both sites with some air conditioning. However, a substantial portion of our classrooms can get very warm. Accordingly, we have made the decision to close at lunchtime on Tuesday 23rd June and Wednesday 24th June. This does not apply to pupils in the Wiltshire wing ARP and the Hawkins Hub ARP, who will stay in school as these are airconditioned spaces. Pupils will leave site from their usual gates at 1.20. If you need your child to stay in school until the normal time please email the school office on office@barkingabbeyschool.co.uk stating their name and form group. We can keep them in airconditioned rooms until 3pm. There will be no lunch service but an expanded break service. Pupils in receipt of free school emails can collect lunch from the canteen before they leave. The planned Year 10 Maths Mock Exam will now take place Wednesday 24th June Period 2. Year 12 mock exams are being rearranged. If your child is one of the small number of pupils involved in hosting our visitors from Nigeria then they will be remaining in school with our visitors. With regards to Thursday 25th June we will make a decision on Wednesday.
