Durham Johnston School forced to close after power cut

Durham Johnston School at Crossgate Moor has sent all students home after the outage caused issues on site, including reduced access to essential facilities.

In a statement on the schools website, the school said: “There is a power cut that has affected the wider area.

“Updates indicate that we will not be able to provide a full lunch service and we have limited running water and limited functioning toilets. We have therefore made the difficult decision to send pupils home.”

Sixth Form students who were able to do so had already left the site to continue their studies remotely.

However, arrangements for younger students required additional coordination. The school said: “Sixth Form students who are able have already left to work from home. We cannot allow younger students to leave without parental consent.

“We will allow children to use their phones to contact home to seek consent. If you see this message and you consent for your child to go home please send them a text to confirm this.”

Transport arrangements were also put in place, with buses being notified to assist with getting students home safely.

The statement added: “We have alerted school buses who will be arriving shortly to take students home. If you need to collect your child please communicate with them directly.

“This is logistically very complicated and our phone system is also down and we have no Internet. Please bear with us and we will provide further updates if needed. Thank you for your support.”