This week has been a challenging week, to some extent, in school.
After puzzling over a rising hall floor for a while, hot water was discovered underneath the school and was believed to be causing the problem. After working all last weekend, plumbers eventually found the problem-a length of heavily corroded pipe under the floor outside of the Year 5 classroom. The reality is that a fifty year old building is showing signs of wear and tear and the central heating system is suffering from old age! Work to repair the system will be costly and will take a few weeks to complete.
As usual in our school, when things get difficult our team pulls together and this week saw support for one another in abundance. The relocation of the Year 5 children to the annexe area outside of Year 4 was amazing, (60 Minute Make-Over fans would be impressed!) Well done to Mrs Hargreaves and the children for quickly settling down to business in their new territory.
Year 6 needed a larger area and Year 1 children kindly moved to the Conference Room in order for the Year 6 children to have a stable teaching area for the next few weeks. This was vital to keep the preparation for end of year SATs on track. Mrs Mason and the children have continued to work hard despite the disruption; well done to you all. Meanwhile, the Year 1 children have the cosiest and cutest room in the whole school!
The work has created lots of dust and damp and we are all doing our best to maintain our high standards and to keep our school the usual source of joy it is, despite the conditions.
Recent heavy rainfall has caused excessive flooding throughout the area and our school field is no exception. Recent work completed on the field to stop flooding to surrounding properties has created a bigger problem on our field. We are awaiting tests by Durham County Council to establish the causes of the problem and hope to have our field in full working order in time for spring.