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Flint schoolchildren get extended Christmas holiday after flood damage

Dec 29 2010 by Dave Goodban, Flintshire Chronicle

Julia Torgersen, Beverley Barnes and headteacher Rachel Molyneux at St Marys RC Primary School, Flint

Julia Torgersen, Beverley Barnes and headteacher Rachel Molyneux at St Marys RC Primary School, Flint

CHILDREN at a Flintshire school will get an extended Christmas holiday after a burst water pipe caused severe flood damage to their classrooms.

Headteacher Rachel Molyneux and a team of staff rushed into St Mary’s RC Primary School in Flint last week after the caretaker discovered a ceiling had collapsed.

Pupils were due to go back on Tuesday, but now 90 youngsters from the nursery and reception classes could get an extra two weeks off.

“We’ve had a burst pipe and the ceiling’s come down and flooded the classrooms,” said Rachel.

“They’ve had to be completely emptied, it’s come down like a river.”

Rachel and her staff had already gone home for Christmas when they received the emergency call, but they had to spend most of the day on Wednesday clearing up the classrooms and ringing a list of every pupil in the three affected classes to make sure they didn’t arrive next week and have to be turned away.

And it could be mid-January by the time the ruined carpets are replaced and the rooms restored.

Rachel said: “The council has advised us that the earliest we’d be able to open for those pupils is January 12, because the carpet company has closed for Christmas.

“But we’re going to assess the situation because it could be later. We're hoping the classrooms will be ready for the 17th.”

A Flintshire County Council spokesman said: “We can confirm that damage, due to a burst water pipe, has occurred in the nursery and reception class area of the school.

“The school is communicating with parents of nursery and reception age children to inform them that there will be a delay to the start of the term whilst the damage is rectified.

“The school will be open as normal for all the remaining age groups.”

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