St James Catholic Primary School cancels first two school days due to delayed building work
Furious parents turned up to a Brighton school with their preppies this morning to find the gates locked and no staff there.
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Furious parents arrived at a Brighton school with their preppies this morning to find the gates locked and no staff there.
They were left fuming after a delayed school reno resulted in the cancellation the first two days of the year.
St James Catholic Primary School had sent an email just a day before but some parents missed it or didn’t receive it.
One frustrated mum told the Leader that parents were “so angry”, while preppies looking forward to starting school, were disappointed and “anxious”.
“We turned up this morning and there was no-one at the gate,” the mum said.
“The preppies don’t just get excited the night before; they’re excited all year.
“I’ve had to cancel my work appointments today. All the parents were concerned the school was trying to squeeze in building over the Christmas and holiday period.”
She said another mum had to postpone her chemotherapy treatment in order to look after her child who was due to start school.
Building works at St James Catholic Primary School were undertaken over the summer break, but extreme heat delayed the construction of four new learning spaces, forcing principal Brendan Flanagan to tell parents and students that there’d be no school for kids on Thursday, January 31 and Friday, February 1.
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Prep students were due to start school today, in advance of kids in years 1-6 starting on Monday, February 4.
In an email to parents sent at 10.59am yesterday, Mr Flanagan said the school, in consultation with building company Bowden Constructions and the architects involved in the project, had decided to call off the first two days of Term 1.
“I apologise for this late notice as it was always our intention to have the school ready to start the 2019 school year as planned,” he wrote. “The builders have worked tirelessly over the January period and it was looking as though this would come to fruition. This would have been achieved, except for the extreme hot weather, which has delayed the completion process.”
“This decision has been made to take the pressure off the builders to ensure that the project is not rushed at this final stage, and also allows our teachers time to access the space and prepare classrooms so that the space is inviting and safe for them and our children.”
Mr Flanagan urged parents to “make arrangements with each other to support each other with child care arrangements”.
“I appreciate that this is an inconvenience to families, however I am sure that the support we continually provide as a school community will overcome the delay to school commencing with the excitement of a new learning environment which will be safe and ready for our children,” he wrote.
Mr Flanagan was contacted for comment.
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