Six schools in Middlesbrough closed at lunchtime on Friday, September 4, ahead of the funeral of Jakub Matusiak, amid warnings that large crowds and road closures could cause serious congestion in the South Bank area.
The service for Mr Matusiak, 23, was held at St John the Evangelist Church on Normanby Road. At least six schools and a number of local businesses shut early as mourners gathered for the first funeral linked to last month’s fatal A66 crash.
South Bank Primary School and Outwood Academy Normanby were due to close at midday, while Archway Academy in Teesville finished at 11.45am and St Margaret Clitherow’s Catholic Primary School closed at 12.15pm. Other schools in the area also brought forward their end-of-day arrangements.
Headteachers said the decisions were made after considering the expected impact on pupils, staff and families leaving the schools, as well as the effect on home-to-school transport. Large numbers of mourners, motorbikes and quad bikes were expected in the area around the funeral.
Tammy Cooper, headteacher at South Bank Primary, said the school had acted to protect the “safety and wellbeing” of pupils and acknowledged that some children might feel upset or anxious about the funeral taking place nearby.
Education Secretary Lucy Powell defended the closures, saying headteachers had to make judgments based on the circumstances affecting their own school communities. She said road closures were expected around the time pupils would normally be collected.
The move was criticised by shadow education secretary Laura Trott, who argued that schools should remain open and that children should not lose classroom time because of concerns about disorder.
Mr Matusiak was one of five young men killed when a Volkswagen Passat collided head-on with a marked Cleveland Police vehicle on the A66 on August 22. Police officers Matthew Blades, 37, and Tom Clough, 38, also died in the crash.
