£35m new school reopens after flooding

IT was back to business as usual today at the new £35 million Failsworth School.

The school was forced to close on Friday when heavy rain flooded classrooms and offices.

The school’s 1,500 students got an unexpected day off when they were turned away by head teacher David Johnson who joined emergency services on site when the alarm was raised on Thursday evening.

Yesterday was a long-standing staff training day, which went ahead as planned, and it gave workmen an extra day to repair the damage caused to four classrooms and a number of offices.

The school was opened just four months ago, and Alan Lee, service director for children, young people and families, said: “In any new building of this size and complexity there is always a need to identify and respond to snagging issues.

“This has been a major issue and we are currently working with Academy Services to identify the cause of the problem, resolve it and ensure that it does not happen again,” he said.