Bishopston Comprehensive to reopen to all pupils on Wednesday

Swansea Council say a huge amount of work has taken place over the last three weeks to re-route and re-install electric, gas and water supplies to all buildings and contractors are now in the phase of testing these systems.

The council has revealed that what appears to have happened is that a pipe below ground fractured which caused some ground movement right at the point where the utility supplies connected to the school.

Surveys have shown there are no structural issues to any school building.

Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, Robert Smith, said: “As soon as the issue came to light all utilities to the school had to be turned off.

“It has been a very complex job to re-route and re-instate them but contractors have been on-site every day for the past three weeks working in some atrocious weather conditions.

“They really have pulled out all the stops to get the school back-up and running as soon as possible.

“I am very grateful to them for their hard work, along with the council teams who have been working alongside them.”

When the school reopens on Wednesday separate ground contractors will still be on-site working to restore the area where ground movement occurred, but this work, which is expected to take a further two weeks, will not impact on staff or pupils.

While the school buildings have been closed teaching staff have been running online classes and attendance has been very good.

Cllr Smith added: “I would like to thank all the staff at Bishopston Comprehensive for their efforts in continuing to educate pupils while the school buildings have been closed.

“Equally I’m grateful to parents, carers and families for their patience and support of the school.”

Swansea Council Leader Rob Stewart said: “I would like to add my thanks to all the teams who have worked so tremendously hard to resolve what have been some very challenging issues and to the school staff for all they have done in supporting remote learning during this unavoidable period of disruption.”

(Lead image: Swansea Council)