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CHILDREN looking forward to another day off school, will be sorely disappointed with Horsham’s Ss Michael and John’s Primary School confirming classes will resume on Wednesday.
The school was forced to send students home early on Tuesday after a power failure plunged them into the dark.
Principal Andrea Cox said power was restored before 1pm, with school back in session on Wednesday.
“The cause was an issue in our main supply from Powercor,” she said.
“Rain was getting in and causing short circuits.”
Mrs Cox thanked Powercor for its quick response and for parents’ patience and understating.
“A big thank you to all parents for their support,” she said.
“The school sincerely apologises for the outage, which was out of our control.”
PREVIOUSLY:
STUDENTS from Horsham’s Ss Michael and John’s Primary School have been sent home less than two hours into the day after an unexpected power failure.
Principal Andrea Cox said about 9.15am classes were plunged into darkness.
Horsham’s Chickpea Cafe also reported a brief power failure around 11.15am but power was returned within a couple of minutes.
Mrs Cox said the school had no option other than calling parents and sending children home.
“As we had no heating, lighting and the doors are controlled electronically we weren’t able to keep students on site,” she said.
“We were able to get a message to parents asking them to pick up their child.
“We had a very quick response from parents, we’re lucky we have a text system we are able to access without the internet.”
Mrs Cox said the cause of the blackout was unknown, with Powercor on its way.
She said it seemed to be isolated to the school.
“We’ve checked with neighbours. and the parish centre on Roberts Avenue and it seems to just be the school,” she said.
Mrs Cox said despite the disruption most students were unfazed by the incident.
“A lot of children are walking out happy,” she said.
Mrs Cox expected the power to be returned this afternoon and said parent’s would be notified if the blackout was going to affect Wednesday’s school day.