School lead thieves force out 430 pupils

AN ENTIRE school will have to close for lengthy repairs and 430 pupils will be decanted to a temporary new building at a cost of more than £2 million after children caused "extensive damage".

Thieves and vandals, all thought to be under the age of 16, are said to have clambered on to the glass roof of Methillhill Primary in Fife and stolen lead in a series of raids, which caused rainwater to cascade into the building so rapidly it had to be caught "in wheelie bins, not buckets".

Fife Council said yesterday that the authority had been forced to take a series of urgent, temporary measures to ensure the school is safe and watertight,? but pupils and staff will have to be moved elsewhere while permanent repairs are carried out.

The council's education chairman Douglas Chapman revealed it would be difficult to find the 2m within the current budget, with the cash-strapped council making cuts across all its departments.

However, he said that a "temporary campus" would have to be found to allow school life to continue during the remedial works.: Mr Chapman added "To find another 2m from reducing budgets at this time will be very difficult, but it's something we'll just have to do."

Methilhill Primary is only around 20 years old. Fife Council decided when it was built that in an attempt to create an "open, airy atmosphere," the top half of the building should be made from glass panels held together by lead.

However, much of the lead has been stolen in the recent incidents, and the school has been forced to step up security to stop the situation becoming worse.

Mr Chapman said staff had been forced to put bins around the school to catch the falling water.

He said: "With the lead gone from the roof, there are situations where they are not catching water in buckets, they're catching it in wheeled bins.

"That's happening in storage areas on the upper level rather than in classrooms, but it's almost impossible to stop it getting into the walls.

"I've been to the school a couple of times. It's a fabulous school but there are problems that need to get sorted quickly."

Interim measures include sturdy webbing material being hung underneath the glazed areas to ensure there is no danger of glass falling on to classrooms.

Mr Chapman said: "We'll need to virtually build a temporary campus as close to school as we can while remedial works take place.

"Every effort was made to make the children education as normal as it could possibly be. That's our main aim - and to ensure the parent body is kept informed on everything we do."