Update from East Lothian Council: 3.10 pm Tuesday 7 December:

School Transport

School transport will operate where possible tomorrow. Please see below for list of services affected today. Pupils should wait no longer than 15 minutes for their bus or taxi to arrive. If it does not turn up, they should head back home.  For further updates (after 3.10 pm) please check here.

The following Prentice Coaches (01620 822620) will not operate:

- 157 Knox Academy St Mary's RC Primary (Morham, Carfrae, Castle Moffat, Garvald Mains, Nunraw, Garvald, Chesters, Tanderlane, Whitelaw, Monkrigg, Northrigg, West Bearford, East Bearford, Cairndinnis, Sandy's Mill, Stevenson Mains, Abbey Mains, Barney Mains)

- 158 Knox Academy St Mary's RC Primary (Beech Hill, Hopes, Longyester, Quarryford, Yester, Skedsbush, Marvington, Bankrugg, Baxtersyke, Danskine, Sherrifside, Kidlaw, Townhead, Snawdon, Gifford, Colstoun, Cockles)

- 159 Knox Academy St Mary's RC Primary (Inglisfield, Woodend, Upper Bolton, Bolton, Eaglescairnie, Lennoxlove, Letham Mains, Samuelston, Begbie, Liberty Hall, West Garleton, Barberfield)

As a result of the weather conditions today, Knox Academy will close at 2.05 pm.

Pupils requiring buses home will be asked to meet in the Assembly Hall where arrangements will be confirmed.

Other pupils should go directly home.  Telephone facilities are being made available for pupils if required.  No pupil will be asked to leave the school building unless they have somewhere safe to go.

Current weather conditions are worse than initial forecasts predicted.  However, our current advice to parents and carers is that children and staff are safest to remain in their schools. Plans are underway to make arrangements for the safe transportation home of pupils this afternoon as conditions improve, and as the roads are cleared by our Road Services workers.

We do not recommend that either staff or children should travel by vehicles at this point in time.

With the exceptions below, all schools are currently operating with teaching and learning underway.

A further update will be provided after 2 pm this afternoon.

Closures

East Lothian Council opened all schools this morning (6 December 2010) with the following exceptions:

• North Berwick Nursery School
• Please note that Windygoul Nursery, Tranent, will open from 9-11 am only. The afternoon session has been cancelled.

The current weather forecast indicates that East Lothian Council should be able to open schools on Monday morning (6 December 2010).  Where we are unable to open any school due to adverse conditions or safety concerns, we will endeavour to announce this as early as possible on Sunday evening.  Please check this website, individual school websites and Radio Forth for updates.  Please also check updates on school transport below.

Although every effort is being made to return our schools to normal service as soon as possible, this will inevitably take time. Council employees will be working throughout the weekend to clear access routes to schools to enable them to open. We would ask that parents and carers be patient and co-operate with us as we work to achieve this.  Please also consider the safety guidance below before making a journey to school.

Head Teachers, in partnership with Parent Councils, may be seeking volunteers from parents and community members to assist with the clearance of school grounds.

School Meals

We will attempt to provide school meals in all of our schools but parents and carers are advised to provide their child with a packed lunch if normal school meal arrangements cannot be provided.

School Transport - UPDATED

All school transport is scheduled to run as normal at this point in time, with the following exceptions:

• Humbie Primary School transport (parents already informed).

Please also note that there will only be one pick-up point for Garvald children, and this will be at the west end of the village.

Safety and Travel Advice

Given the volume of snow and ice and current driving conditions, we would ask parents to avoid driving their child to school wherever possible.  Despite our efforts to clear snow and ice to open up safe routes to school, pavements in many areas are still in a very poor condition.  Please dress your children appropriately for the weather conditions and make sure that you and your children take extreme care when walking to school.  If you have young children, or have concerns about your child’s safety, make sure you accompany them on their walk to school. 

Although most school crossing supervisors will be on duty on Monday morning, we cannot guarantee that they will be on duty in all areas.  Please cross roads with extreme caution and accompany your child if you have concerns for their safety.

Schools

Due to the continuing severe weather conditions, it has been confirmed that ALL East Lothian schools will remain closed to pupils on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 December.  The forecast for Wednesday night is for worsening weather conditions with snowfalls of between 5 and 10cm and falls of 20-30 cm in some parts of the county.

Major efforts to open up safe access routes to schools will continue during the rest of the week. East Lothian Council appreciates that these closures are causing major inconvenience to parents and carers. However, every effort is being made to re-open schools in the face of unprecedented severe weather conditions and transport difficulties.

Further updates for this week will be added here in due course with information also being available on Radio Forth and school websites.

School staff should continue to follow the Policy on Employee Absence due to Adverse Weather conditions.

Access to learning resources at home

During the adverse weather, and at any other time, parents, carers and children are able to access a wide range of learning materials though our innovative Edubuzz website. You can find a wide range of learning resources, suggested research activities and homework tasks – either on your own school’s Edubuzz pages or on any of the other school sites. 

Our teaching staff are adding to and updating this information on a regular basis and many of them are available to contact by email.   Edubuzz also gives you access to over 1000 other sites and the opportunity to network with more than 2000 contributors across East Lothian.

For a full list of Edubuzz school sites, including your own school, click here ...

These are in addition to resources available on Knox Academy's website and the SQA Past Paper service