CHULMLEIGH Community College had to send all pupils and staff home on Thursday, December 7, due to a power cut caused by a break underground in the high voltage cables which blew up and took out several other parts of the network.

The first problems arose at around 11.45pm on the Wednesday night, December 6, when the night shift cleaners reported issues with the power going off and lightning at the back of the sports hall and Primary School.

A few minutes later there was a tremendous bang, and all the power went off.

Western Power assured the College at 2am that engineers were on site and power would be restored no later than 4am.

Unfortunately at 7am the power was still off but a generator was in situ ready to be connected to the College if the repair could not be completed by 7.45am.

Unfortunately when the generator was connected, it started smoking and cut out, as it was not powerful enough.

By around 8.15am the decision was made to accept children as they were already on their way into school, and the college had been assured that a new higher powered generator was on its way and would be connected by 10am.

It became very obvious when the Western Power night crew finished their shift and left around 8.45am, that the college was unlikely to be able to operate the school safely and plans were put in place with transport to take the children home.

Problems included electronic taps in toilets not working, the college was unable to cook food, the stairwells were very dark and unsafe for groups of pupils, rendering the upstairs unusable, the corridors were dark and many classrooms were unusable.

Communication was also an issue as the college telephone system and internet would not work and as a result a member of staff’s internet had to be used to get text messages out about the closure.

Staff checked with pupils that they had somewhere safe to stay, and when this was confirmed by them, they were allowed to get on the buses.

The college said it was very disappointing that Western Power did not send the right sized generator.

Western Power did fix the problem by 10.40am, but the college said pupils would not have lost a day of their education if the correct equipment had been ordered immediately after the problem started.

Alan Quick