Corby school remains closed after major power outage

A power cut that caused Corby Business Academy to close early has led to computer servers being corrupted and another day’s closure.

More than a thousand pupils were sent home early yesterday after the power cut that started just before 10am knocked out the school’s servers – all supplies were restored by 3.15pm.

Multi-utility company GTC apologised for the disruption – which also took out electricity supplies to hundreds of customers – and thanked everyone for their ‘continued support and understanding’.

Meanwhile the principal of Corby Business Academy Mr Simon Underwood explained to parents and carers the reasons for the closure in a letter last night.

He said: “I have been informed by our IT providers that the power cut has corrupted the servers in the academy.

“This currently leaves the building without telephone lines, student databases, teacher resources and all internal processes.

“These issues present a multitude of concerns for me - safeguarding, teaching and learning, health and safety, home communications in case of emergencies/non-attendance to name a few.

“It is with immense frustration that the Academy will be closed to all students tomorrow, September 23, 2022.”

A team has been working overnight to resolve the IT issues.

Mr Underwood added: “I am so sorry for any last minute childcare or alternative arrangements that have to be made.”

A spokesman for GTC said: “We’re very sorry for any inconvenience caused during the electricity outage in Corby, resulting from a fault on our network.

"This affected several hundred customers from just before 10am and by rerouting the supply we were able to start restoring electricity ahead of the permanent repair (including to the academy) from 2.50pm. All supplies were restored by 3.15pm.

"It’s not expected that the permanent repair will result in further outages.”

It is expected that the IT issues will be resolved in time for school on Monday morning.

A spokesman for Brooke Weston Trust who manage Corby Business Academy said: “While the power cut appears to be resolved, some of our essential IT systems have not yet come back online and will need to be checked and reset to allow the school to reopen.

“We fully expect everything to be back up and running, and will reopen to students normally on Monday morning.”