Dear Parents, carers and pupils,

I know so many of you have been waiting for an update as to the impact of the flood in our infant building and timescales for repairs. I am now able to give you a better update. First of all, I would like to extend another heartfelt thanks you to you all, acknolwedging the disruption that the flood has caused, not only to the parts of the building that have been damaged but its impact across the whole site, particularly with learning spaces and hot school lunches being affected.

The impact of the water was considerable and surveys have shown that it also penetrated sub-layers to the floor. Across all of the learning spaces affected, all floor coverings have now been removed, furniture and equipment sanitised, where it is still safe to use and the rooms emptied. The process of completely drying out the spaces has already started and will continue up until Christmas. After Christmas, the renovation process will start and we are hopeful that this will be completed in January, but this is subject to many factors beyond our school control. With this being the case, the current classroom arrangement we have set up this week, will need to continue until then.

You, like me, may have seen snippets on the news, which indicate that the colder weather will be with us very soon.  I am working closely with the Local Authority and Solihull Catering to come up with a solution to enable the children to eat their lunch away from their classrooms and also how we may start to reinstate a hot meal option. The team supporting this are working as quickly as possible to try and make this happen in the shortest possible time.

Whilst we are waiting for the completion of remedial building works, we are exploring many different options to see how we might also be able to resume or adapt as many of the planned activities and events we had for this half term and I shall keep you up to date as soon as I can share further information.

Thank you again, both to our incredible children who have shown so much resilience and adaptation to change but also to yourselves for your continued understanding and many, many offers of help. It means such a lot to the team.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend,

Yours sincerely,

Mr Chamberlain and the Team at Olton

Head Teacher

Olton Primary School