Major damage to primary school

It comes shortly after the school underwent a major refurbishment which cost “hundreds of thousands of pounds” - and it was in the refurbished parts where the most damage was caused.

Burst pipes caused a classroom to be evacuated while the assembly hall in the school filled with water. Days later there was so much water in the roofspace that the ceiling came down.

Luckily there were no pupils in the school when the roof came down, but the problems did mean that children missed out on four days of education.

“When we arrived on Monday morning there were frozen pipes, frozen basins, frozen everything,” said principal Lynne Nesbitt.

“Then at around 10am there was a massive deluge of water through the lights and the assembly hall filled with water. The teachers brushed and wiped that out.

“There was a store filled with damaged equipment and we also had to evacuate our P3 class as it was becoming too dangerous for them to remain there.

“Later on Monday we had another burst pipe so we decided to take a day or two off, but when we returned on Wednesday the roof had fallen in.”

Miss Nesbitt said that she had no idea how much it was going to cost but that the original refurbishment to the school had ran into a six figure sum.

“The damage is all in the new refurbished part of the school. We’re waiting to see if the equipment still works but it’s the structural damage that is worst,” she added.

But she praised the efforts of staff and parents to get the school ready on time for Monday morning.

“I’m sure the pupils were all esctatic,” Miss Nesbitt joked.

“I have to thank all the parents and the staff who have been brilliant with their offers of help. I don’t think people realise how much work has gone in to getting us ready on time.”