Why Harrogate school took the 'difficult decision' to close the school after internet went down

Students at St Aidan's Church of England High School sat at home last Friday after the school experienced a “total outage of our internet and school network on site at St Aidan’s”.

Parents who contracted the Harrogate Advertiser told us they wondered why their children could not be taught with old-fashioned pen and paper.

But, in an urgent notice on social media to parents and carers, Headteacher Siân Dover said the technical problem impacted St Aidan’s entire communication systems including safeguarding systems, student registration, telephone networks in and out of the school, and our monitoring and filtering internet safety systems.

The headteacher said the decision to send home all students was made as a last resort with the safeguarding of students at the forefront of the decision.

"We appreciate that this decision is extremely inconvenient, and we cannot apologise enough for this,” said Headteacher Siân Dover.

"Please know that it has been made as a last resort with the safeguarding of all our students at the forefront of the decision."

St Aidan's Church of England High School also looked at the impact on youngsters’ studies of being sent home temporarily.

"We believe it is possible for staff to access their work from home and we are, therefore, endeavouring to set work for students on teams tomorrow should they have access to this from home,” said Headteacher Siân Dover.

"For students who have coursework deadlines and NEA assessments, they will be contacted by individual subject teachers with any necessary arrangements.

"Please accept our sincere apologies for the disruption.”

Located on Oatlands Drive, St Aidan's Church of England High School is a mixed Church of England secondary school and sixth form with academy status.

The school has the vision of "living and learning according to our Church Foundation and the example of Saint Aidan” and “striving to be a centre of educational excellence where each and everyone knows the gift of life in all its fullness."