A note from Mr. Read:

Dear Parents and Carers,

Some of you are asking about the disco which is scheduled for tomorrow night.  The forecast is for hot weather, but we are going to go ahead with it with a few mitigations.

Firstly, it is your choice whether or not to send your children to the disco.  You know how they handle the heat, but given the sun will not be at it’s strongest and that the disco only lasts for one hour, we consider this acceptable. 

Secondly, we will be providing refreshments.  There will be plenty of water and squash to drink and additionally we will turn off the music for a mandatory hydration break at halftime. Please ensure that your children bring a full (and named!) water bottle with them too. We will also keep the doors and windows open to allow cross ventilation, but if you’ve been to a golden book assembly lately, you’ll know that room gets stuffy. 

If the forecast changes or if a red health alert is issued, we will review our risk assessment and let you know as soon as possible.  But given the disco is scheduled for late in the day after the full strength of the sun has passed, we are hopeful it can continue.  We know how much the children love these events and want it to go ahead, but safety will always be our first priority.

Best wishes,

Mr. Read

A big well done for Week 5 goes to Ryon, Eden, Osinachi, Penelope, Matthew, Akanisi, Lotte, Bryant, Alpheia, Lola, John, Isabella, Rohey and George! Some truly spectacular efforts to celebrate this week - well done, everyone!

An update from Mr. Read:

Dear Parents and Carers,

I wanted to provide you with an update regarding arrangements for Friday.

Firstly, I would like to thank you for your patience, understanding and support over the past two days. I appreciate that the school closures have caused disruption for many families and I am grateful for the understanding you have shown.

As you know, the school has remained closed because our dynamic risk assessments concluded that we could not maintain a safe environment for pupils, staff and visitors during the period covered by the Red Heat Health Warning. Safety has been, and will continue to be, our overriding priority. The Met Office weather warning is due to end tonight. However, the UK Health Security Agency's Red Heat Health Alert remains in place and we continue to monitor the conditions within the school building carefully.

This afternoon, despite the school having been unoccupied for the past two days, the average temperature across our classrooms remains approximately 29°C. This demonstrates how much heat the building has retained and why it is not yet possible to determine whether conditions will be safe for Friday. For that reason, we will carry out a fresh dynamic risk assessment early tomorrow morning before making a final decision about reopening. This assessment will consider the overnight cooling of the building, classroom temperatures, the weather forecast and whether the control measures available to us will enable us to provide a safe environment throughout the school day.

If our assessment concludes that it is safe to reopen, we will continue with a number of additional control measures. These will include:

• the option for parents to collect children from 1300hrs, as we offered earlier this week;
• regular hydration breaks;
• reduced physical activity;
• the continued use of any other control measures identified through our risk assessment.

I also recognise that many families need to make childcare arrangements this evening and may not be able to wait until tomorrow morning for our final decision. Therefore, if the school is able to reopen tomorrow but you have already made alternative arrangements, or you feel it is in your child's best interests to remain at home for one further day, we will support that decision. Please notify the school in the usual way, and we will authorise the absence in recognition of these exceptional and unprecedented circumstances.

We will complete our risk assessment as early as possible tomorrow morning and communicate our decision immediately afterwards.

Once again, thank you for your continued understanding and support.

Kind regards,

Mr. Read

An update from Mr. Read:

Dear Parents and Carers,

Following today's dynamic risk assessment and careful consideration of the forecast conditions for the next two days, I have taken the decision to close Lyneham Primary School on Wednesday and Thursday.

This decision has not been taken lightly. Our overriding responsibility is to provide a safe environment for pupils, staff and visitors. Today's risk assessment concluded that, despite implementing all reasonably practicable control measures, we cannot be confident that we will be able to maintain a safe environment within the school building during the period covered by the Met Office's Red Heat Health Warning.

Throughout today we have monitored classroom temperatures, encouraged regular hydration, cancelled physical activity and implemented a range of additional control measures. Despite these actions, classroom temperatures have continued to rise, and the forecast for Wednesday and Thursday indicates conditions significantly beyond those experienced today.

Our school was built in the 1960s with large south-facing windows and limited protection against extreme summer temperatures. As a result, classrooms retain heat exceptionally well, making it increasingly difficult to provide a safe learning environment during prolonged periods of extreme heat.

I appreciate that this decision will cause inconvenience for many families and I am genuinely sorry for the disruption this may cause. However, having carefully considered all of the available evidence and completed a full risk assessment, I believe this is the right decision in the interests of the safety and wellbeing of both pupils and staff.

I would also ask parents to take the opportunity over the next two days to remind children about staying safe around water. During periods of hot weather, rivers, lakes, canals and reservoirs can appear inviting, but they present significant hidden dangers. Even on very hot days, open water remains cold enough to cause cold water shock, which can lead to panic and drowning. Please encourage your children to stay away from unsupervised open water and to follow the RNLI's water safety advice.

The current forecast suggests that temperatures will return to more seasonal levels by Friday and, subject to any unforeseen changes, we expect the school to reopen as normal on Friday 26th June.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

Kind regards,

Mr. Read
Headteacher

Dear Parents and Carers,

I wanted to update you on the current situation regarding the extreme weather and the arrangements for the next few days.

As you know, we offered families the option of collecting children early today. This has helped to reduce the number of pupils in classrooms and has made some difference to both classroom temperatures and carbon dioxide levels. However, despite these measures, most of our classrooms are already exceeding 28°C.

At these temperatures, children find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on their learning, and prolonged exposure can increase the risk of heat-related illness. Throughout today we have implemented a range of measures to keep children as comfortable and safe as possible, including ensuring regular access to drinking water, reducing physical activity and monitoring classroom conditions closely.

We will offer the same arrangements tomorrow. Children may either be collected from 1300hrs, or they may remain in school, where they will be taught in reduced class groups. We hope this will help us maintain lower classroom temperatures during the hottest part of the day.

Tomorrow we will complete a further dynamic risk assessment. We have been advised that a Red Weather Warning is in place for Wednesday and Thursday, with temperatures expected to increase further.

At this stage, no decision has been made regarding Wednesday or Thursday. However, I do want to give families as much notice as possible that there is a possibility the school may need to close if our risk assessment concludes that the building cannot be occupied safely.

Please be assured that this is not a decision we would take lightly. Our priority is always to keep the school open wherever it is safe to do so. Any decision will be based on the latest weather information, actual classroom temperatures, the effectiveness of the control measures available to us, and the safety and wellbeing of both pupils and staff.

Our school was designed and built in the 1960s at a time when retaining heat during colder weather was considered desirable. The building has large south-facing windows and limited protection against extreme summer temperatures, which means classrooms become exceptionally warm during prolonged periods of hot weather. If the temperatures currently forecast materialise, there may come a point where the control measures available to us are no longer sufficient to maintain a safe learning environment.

We will make a final decision tomorrow afternoon and will communicate this to all families as early as possible to give you the greatest opportunity to make alternative childcare arrangements if necessary.

The current public health advice remains to avoid prolonged exposure to the sun between 11.00am and 3.00pm, although temperatures are expected to remain very high into the evening. Fortunately, the forecast suggests conditions should begin to improve overnight on Thursday.

Thank you, as always, for your understanding and support.

Best wishes,

Mr. Read

A message from Mr. Read:

The forecast for this week looks like it will be very hot. We will be allowing early collection of children this week to try and keep the temperature in the school as low as possible. The fewer bodies in the room, the lower we can keep the temperature. 

After registers in the afternoon are done, we will be opening the school gates at 1300 for a ten minute window for you to collect your children if you wish to. We are unable to allow children to walk home alone so they must be collected in person. Gates will close promptly at 1310.

Please make sure your children have sun cream on, are wearing a hat and bring a full water bottle to school. It is vital that they stay hydrated. This weather is unusual and likely to continue until Thursday so we will keep these measures in place until then. We will not be doing any PE this week, but encourage PE kit to be worn to school.

Fill up your paddling pools whilst you can and fill the fridge with cold drinks. It’s going to get hot. 

Stay cool.

Mr. Read

Huge congratulations to Zahir, Elliot, Nate, Suvali, Nickella, Ayden, Imogen, Arthur, Earl, Gulsoom, Remi, Asma and Oscar! We also have to give a huge shout out to Beech class for their incredible perseverance and aspiration this week. Finally, we want to recognise our fantastic Year 6 children, who have continued to blow us away and step up over the last two weeks during their trip to Youlbury, their phenomenal writing, their excellent turn as our Year 6 Sports Day Leaders, and for their incredible passion, enthusiam and dedication to their Year 6 Leavers' Production, which is coming on a treat! Well done everyone - you're all superstars!

Year 6 had a fantastic time during their visit to Youlbury earlier this week! To view the photos of their brilliant day, click here: https://www.lynehamprimary.co.uk/news-updates/class-highlights/year-5-6-class-highlights/year-6-youlbury-trip-2026-photos 

Last week, our Year 6s took a trip to the Wiltshire Scout Centre in Potterne Wick for an afternoon of 'Good Citizen' workshops! We attended a variety of different sessions: road safety, drug & alcohol awareness, how to be a responsible dog owner, rail safety, school nurses and how they can help, knife crime awareness, the reality of prisons, and Hazard Alley - how to stay safe. It was a fantastic afternoon full of tips, tricks and knowledge to help our Year 6s prepare for life beyond primary school - well done, team! If you would like to see more photos of the workshops, you can visit the gallery here: https://www.lynehamprimary.co.uk/news-updates/class-highlights/year-5-6-class-highlights