Spalding Academy plans to reopen tomorrow

A secondary school is planning to re-open tomorrow after being assured that works to fix an electrical issue will be completed today.

Spalding Academy was forced to shut yesterday and today (Tuesday and Wednesday, January 7 and 8) due to having no heating along with limited electricy and water.

School leaders say repairs completed by National Grid overnight did not resolve the issues but are expecting to welcome back pupils tomorrow (Thursday, January 9).

Mrs Lucy Conley, Chief Executive Officer of South Lincolnshire Academies Trust which runs the school, said “Yesterday, we had a reassurance from National Grid that Spalding Academy would be able to reopen on January 8, 2025.

“However, sadly, the work completed overnight on the school site was not resolved due to issues with the additional hardware provided by this company, which is currently being addressed.

“We therefore had to take the decision to close the school for today and the school closure procedure was activated, with all communications completed by 7.30am.

“The impact of this external utility failure is that the school continues to have no heating, limited water and limited electricity across the site and an extremely limited network infrastructure.

“This site-specific issue is to do with the utility companies and is beyond our control. The reason why the work failed overnight has now been identified and will be resolved today by National Grid and the school is planned to reopen on Thursday, January 9.

“We have ensured that all parents have been well communicated with, including work provided for all students at the School, and we will continue to communicate with them regarding the issue as necessary.”