Bristol schools have been “struggling” to get in touch with parents over new lockdown arrangements after their systems have been overloaded.
Schools across the UK were told by the Government last night at 8pm to close their doors to every child except for those of key workers and vulnerable children.
This instruction came as part of an announcement for a new national lockdown in a bid to limit the spread of Covid-19.
This comes after many pupils went to school yesterday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday morning that schools - in places such as Bristol - should open as normal, apart from certain year groups in secondary schools.
Nevertheless, a range of schools across the city chose to remain partially shut and provide remote learning – with emails reaching parents in the early hours.
However, due to the late notice schools and school communication systems being in high demand, Bristol schools have been struggling to contact parents following the Government’s U-turn, say Bristol City Council.
The city council took to Twitter last night at 10.15pm to say: “Some schools are struggling with communicating arrangements for tomorrow with parents/carers due to the systems they use being in high demand.
“Please bear with the schools and try and call ahead if you haven’t heard anything before school starts tomorrow. Thank you.”
One Twitter user questioned the council’s request for parents to contact the school.
They said: “Call ahead?? Terrible advice. School admin teams can’t answer 100’s of phone calls.”
The council responded: “All schools are doing their best to contact parents through a variety of ways, so everyone should be contacted. It is likely that there will be very few parents that can’t be contacted, and in that case calling ahead is preferable than turning up.”
For the latest updates on the new national lockdown in Bristol, follow our live blog here.
