School forced to close due to water leaks 'in all areas' of building

A primary school has been forced to close on Friday due to a "huge number of water leaks in all areas of the school" amid ongoing roof issues, the principal has said.

Eamonn Moore from St Oliver Plunkett Primary School, in Strathfoyle, County Londonderry, said rain water is now entering every classroom and shared area of the building.

Moore said water is lying in numerous areas and, to safeguard pupils, they had to take the difficult decision to apply for an exceptional closure day.

Moore said the school has called an emergency meeting with Education Authority (EA) officials, chair of governors and roofing contractors for Friday. The EA has been contacted for a response.

Moore said the school had been experiencing roof issues and leaks for nearly five years, but said on Thursday the amount of water getting into the building due to adverse weather was on a whole new level.

"We have made numerous overtures to the EA regarding leaks, and what was happening was they were coming out and fixing one part at a time," Moore said.

"We then got structural engineers and architects to look at it, and they decided the roof needed replacing, so that was decided earlier this year. "

"Part of the roof has been replaced, part of the roof has just been covered and is waiting to be tiled, but with the rain today, we had numerous leaks coming in at different points," Moore said.

"Pretty much every classroom, the shared area, the assembly hall and the canteen were affected. The issue, I suppose, was that the water was also coming through the lights, so it was impacting the electricity. It just became a safeguarding issue at that point.

"It was every area of the school. We were looking at approximately 37 or 38 different leaks."

He said some of the leaks were minor but a "large number are pretty substantial, with water lying on the floors".

"We have had to leave tarpaulins down and different containers to try and catch the water. We are just hoping there isn't too much damage overnight."

Moore said the first leak appeared at about 14:00 on Thursday, and "more and more leaks started to appear" throughout the day.

"We left it as long as we possibly could, because we are aware of the impact that closing the school would have on pupils and parents, and it was the last thing we wanted to do.

"But it would have been a safeguarding issue, and it would have been riskier to open the school than to close it, because our priority has to be the safety of the children."

In a statement posted on social media on Thursday evening, Sinn Féin councillor Alex Duffy said: "It is absolutely unacceptable that a school has been forced to close due to extensive leaks throughout the building, leaving classrooms and shared areas unsafe.

"Our children deserve safe learning environments, and school staff should never be placed in this position," Duffy said.