School flood damage costs 'in the hundreds of thousands'

A rural school is facing a repair bill of hundreds of thousands of pounds after flash flooding during the weekend.

Sewers in the village of Bellingham, Northumberland were overwhelmed during downpours on Saturday night.

The water caused extensive damage to the shared Bellingham Primary and Middle school site, requiring a large clean-up by teachers, parents and pupils.

School governor and parent Ant Kirkbride said when he was called out to the site he found “catastrophic” damage.

“I came up to the school and was met with a torrent of water,” he said.

“The water smashed through the gates, the doors, the boiler room."

Northumberland County Council, which maintains the school, said it was “committed both practically and financially to getting pupils back on to their current school site as soon as possible".

Mr Kirkbride said they had been quoted more than £200,000 to repair the boiler room alone.

“All of the carpets will need replacing," he said.

"We’ve got silt throughout the school."

Loss adjusters have visited the site but the full cost of repairs and clean-up is not yet known.

Mr Kirkbride said the flood was the latest in a series of events which had disrupted pupils’ teaching time.

It follows school closures during the pandemic and Storm Arwen, and happened the weekend before Year Six pupils were due to sit their Sats tests, which they are now having to take at a nearby community hall.

Bellingham Middle School interim head teacher Dan Ramshaw said three year groups had to learn remotely.

"Next week we’re hoping to use more local spaces to teach children,” he said.

Mr Kirkbride said pupils "were visibly upset” when they came to help clean up.

“Their classrooms were completely washed out," he said.

“Their school which they love and come to every day was completely and utterly written off.”

His six-year-old son, William, one of about 60 pupils at Bellingham Primary School, was unhappy "because we don’t get to see our friends and do lessons”, he added.

The council reassured parents the flooding would not lead to the school's permanent closure.

It said it was supporting school leaders and governors "to arrange appropriate interim provision where face to face teaching can continue".

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