THE big winter freeze hit hard at two Whitefield schools, forcing them to open a day later than expected after the festive break.

Staff at St Bernadette's RC Primary School, in Abingdon Avenue, faced a major clean-up operation over the weekend after a burst pipe caused water to gush into seven classrooms, causing extensive damage.

And children at St Michael's RC Primary School, in Ribble Drive, were told to stay at home on Monday (Jan 7) as boiler failure meant the classrooms were too cold to work in.

Head teacher at St Bernadette's, Mr Des Burns, said the alarm was raised in the early hours of Friday morning (Jan 4) when an overhead pipe burst in one of the classrooms, causing the ceiling to collapse. Water poured in throughout the school and seven classrooms were flooded by up to an inch of water, causing around £10,000 of damage to wooden flooring and furniture.

Mr Burns said: "It was a bit of a disappointment, especially as three of the rooms had been decorated just before Christmas and we had laid new carpet in five areas since August.

"It wasn't as though we were ready to start afresh."

Caretaking staff and teachers worked hard over the weekend to try and get the school back to normal and Mr Burns issued a special thank-you to local building firm Zenith Project Management who are currently working at the school building a disabled toilet.

"The builders were a great help," said Mr Burns.

"They provided dehumidifiers and heaters to help dry out the school and worked from Friday night to Monday evening.

"We are extremely grateful to them."

Despite their efforts the school remained closed for the first day of term and Mr Burns sent messages to parents via local radio stations telling them to stay at home for an extra day.

Head teacher at St Michael's, Mr Norman Duffin, said school was "back to normal" on Tuesday after problems hit the school's heating system the day before.

He said: "When staff arrived in the morning they noticed how cold the school felt and we decided not to open the building.

"It was too cold for the children."

Parents were informed by word of mouth and notices, and teachers went out to meet those walking to school to tell them the news.

A loss of pressure in the boiler was blamed for the failure.