CHILDREN at Lew Trenchard Primary School are being taught in the village hall in Lewdown after a flood left most of their school unusable.

Head of school Liz Davy said she was determined not to have to send children home again, after a flood in the middle of June left her with just one usable classroom in the school.

Over the past week, she and her staff have worked with parents and the village hall committee to get classrooms back up and running.

Now over half of the 86 pupils on roll are back in school, with most classes taking place at the village hall.

‘We just wanted the children to be able to come back to school,’ said Miss Davy. ‘It is so important at the moment, especially when they were looking forward to it so much.

‘The hall committee rang me last Monday, I did a risk assessment and were back in school on Tuesday (June 30).

‘I have got it fully set up as a classroom. One parent gave us a projector and we have WiFi. Everyone has pulled together, it has been brilliant.’

The school had just reopened its pre-school, Reception, Years 1 and 6 — having remained open for the children of keyworkers — when the heavens opened on Tuesday, June 16 and overwhelmed drains, sending water cascading through the school.

‘It was like that scene in Titanic where they are running round the corridors and all the lights are flashing,’ said Miss Davy.

‘We were outside in the playground singing Why does it always rain on me? and the water was coming over the top of our wellies. We had one parent who came to collect her children and she sent her husband round with drainage rods.

‘Teachers were bailing out the water with bucket before the fire brigade arrived and two hours later we had managed to clear it all up.’

Miss Davy is in her first year leading the village school, with a ‘good’ rating from Ofsted in March closely followed by the nationwide outbreak of Covid-9.‘We’ve had Ofsted, Covid-19 and now a flood,’ she said. ‘It really has been quite eventful.’