A SCHOOL where an 11-year-old girl fell from a balcony last week has closed part of its site while a safety review takes place.

Caldicot High executive headteacher Marc Belli told parents the area will continue to stay off limits into next term, but the balustrades exceeded UK safety standards.The 1,500-pupil £36.5m building is one of the county’s new ’super schools’ with an open plan design to encourage "inclusive learning", including balconies over three floors overlooking a central atrium.Mr Belli said: "While the balustrades installed at the school exceed British standards, I fully accept the view that the very fact an incident of this nature can take place at the school gives cause for concern."I wish to provide assurance that we are working closely with the local authority to take the necessary steps to review this and make adjustments, where necessary."In the meantime, we have taken the decision to close an area of the school site while this review is undertaken."Mr Downs, Deputy Head, will oversee a re-room of this area and those students affected will be issued with new timetables at the start of the new term."I will update families further when I am in a position to do so."Throughout the week, colleagues from the local authority (Monmouthshire County Council) have assisted our staff to support large numbers of students and adults affected by the events of Monday."In the new term, key staff at the school will continue to work with specialist teams to develop a comprehensive programme of support in the short, medium and long-term."A council spokesperson added: "We understand from the school that the pupil is stable and her injuries are not life threatening."Our thoughts continue to be with this student, her family and members of the school community. Our support arrangements will stay in place."When an event such as this happens, a detailed investigation is carried out. This process has commenced and we are in contact with the Health and Safety Executive."The incident happened on Monday morning (December 13) at the open plan school, which was built in 2017 and shares design features with the new Monmouth Comprehensive School.Emergency services rushed to the scene around 11.20am, and the girl was later described as being in a stable condition in hospital.Meanwhile a change.org petition calling for a safer school environment started by a local woman who said she had tried to harm herself at the school in 2018 has passed 2,100 names.The former pupil claimed that nothing has been done to make the "unprotected heights" safer since her own incident and others. She said: "I feel something needs to change now. My thoughts and prayers are with the 11-year-old girl."