Teachers, leaders and staff at Leigham Primary School had to deal with a huge challenge a few days into the new term when a burst water pipe caused widespread damage across the school.
When the cleaners arrived in the early hours of September 11 they discovered that, due to a burst water pipe under a sink in a block of toilets, there was 10cm of water in close to half of the school.
Staff immediately sprang into action to remove the surface water and to try and salvage as much furniture and as many resources as possible.
The extent of the damage caused was huge and was so upsetting for staff who had spent a considerable amount of time preparing for the new school year. Despite all of this, the following day, pupils in five year groups were able to return to school and dehumidifiers and drying equipment were put in place by the insurance company in affected areas so that the drying process could begin.
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School leaders met quickly to come up with a plan of action to minimise the impact of the flood on the rest of the children. It was then all systems go to transform the halls and a spare classroom into temporary classrooms for Years 1 and 2 using furniture which was undamaged.
Alternative drop off/pick up points and arrangements had to be made and communicated to parents and portable toilets had to be put into place. The new classroom spaces that were set up by the team were amazing and allowed the remaining children to return to school within a couple of days after the flood.
All school staff, including the CaterEd catering team have been incredibly flexible and positive and the new arrangements and lack of available space meant that hot lunches had to be delivered to classrooms and the team had to work together to enable the school to run as normally as possible.
Despite the long, and at times frustrating, process of the insurance claim, the school continued to offer extra-curricular clubs and parent sessions and the full curriculum was delivered despite the challenging circumstances.
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More than two months later, many affected areas have now been deemed as dry and repair works are well underway with the lower parts of walls removed, dried out and reinstated, rooms being decorated and new built-in furniture going in. Contractors have worked around the clock and at weekends to minimise the disruption for the children during the school day but with the aim of getting children back into classes as soon as possible.
Although it has been a very long and frustrating process, parents have been full of praise about how the school have dealt with the situation. Natalie Band, a parent of two pupils at the school said:
“The school managed the flood with the students at the forefront of their mind. With the damage that was caused to the school it would have been easy to close whilst the massive clean-up operation began but it felt like that was never an option and the way the students were back in temporary classrooms in such a short time was remarkable.
“As a parent of a Year 1 student who had to be relocated, I have to say that the temporary classrooms are incredible and show the hard work of all involved.”
Headteacher, Samantha Barker said:
“I cannot thank the incredible team at Leigham enough. The children always come first and closing the school is always a last resort.
“I’m so proud that the children’s learning has been unaffected by the flood and that throughout the clean-up and repair works, the children have had the same learning and enrichment experiences as they usually would have done.
“Portable toilets and new classrooms were a huge excitement for the children at first, but our youngest pupils have adapted so well to new routines. Our parents have been so supportive, and we have been overwhelmed with offers of help.”
