A letter has gone to all parents and carers today in regard to a false fire alarm.
Dear parents and carers,
Re: Disruption caused by the activation of the fire alarm this week
No doubt your child has reported to you the disruption we have experienced at the High School this week caused by a few students activating the fire alarm at different points across the week.
Unfortunately, this appears to be a trend taking place across many secondary schools now, stemming from a craze on TikTok.
This selfish behaviour from less than one percent of our student community has had a significant impact on the majority of students and staff this week and at a time when year 11 are sitting their final week of mock exams.
Not only has this action caused a huge disturbance to the teaching and learning taking place across the school, it has also had a profound impact on some individual students who suffer with medical issues, anxiety, sensory or mobility difficulties, not to mention the impact on some of my colleagues in the building.
Please be assured that as the Head teacher I have taken swift action to sanction the individuals concerned. In addition to this I am holding special assemblies to all year groups to apologise for the disruption caused by a minority of students and to reinforce my expectations regarding sanctions if a student deliberately activates the fire alarm falsely in the future.
Our year 11 Ambassador team, led by Noah and Phoebe (Head Boy and Girl), are creating a video over the next few days which will express their disappointment about this deliberate disruption. This will be shared with all tutor groups at the beginning of next week.
Reassuringly, as staff we have heard many students talk frustratingly about the impact this has had on their school days this week and we especially recognise the stress that this added to our year 11 students as they worked through their mock exams.
As parents/carers we ask that you discuss this with your child/ren and encourage them to be proactive in stamping this behaviour out by reporting any potential plans to activate the fire alarms in the future.
Thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely
Sammy Crook
Head