Pupils in school gas leak drama

A GAS leak closed a school and disrupted its GCSE examinations.

Staff in the Dudley kitchen at Great Barr School, in Aldridge Road, discovered the leak shortly after 2pm on Thursday, January 21, and fire alarms were sounded to evacuate school buildings.

A small number of children remained at the school as they had left keys in classrooms and were unable to return home without them.

The gas supply was turned off and staff members entered the building to retrieve these items and enable all children to leave the school.

"Safety is the absolute paramount thing for us," said Steven Forster, from Great Barr School.

"Congratulations go to the whole site team for taking quick and decisive action. The children responded well to a difficult situation and staff were tremendous."

The school remained closed on Friday, although pupils with exams did attend the Lower School, which was able to operate due to a separate heating supply. One exam was cancelled.

It took until Saturday for engineers to find and repair the fault, which was initially thought to be coming from a pipe underground.

It was eventually traced to a faulty valve in the boiler.

"We were very, very disappointed after the disturbances of the snow as we were hoping to get up and running and back to a five-day week," Mr Forster added.

When the school reopened on Monday, pupils returned to the rooms they were in when the alarm sounded to collect their belongings, and then continued as normal.