WIRRAL SNOW: New Brighton Primary refuses to be beaten by the weather

Jan 13 2010 by Lorna Hughes, Birkenhead News

WIRRAL SNOW: New Brighton Primary refuses to be beaten by the weather

ICY conditions had forced just one school to shut when the News went to press last Tuesday lunchtime.

But like the snowfall, the closures later came thick and fast.

By Thursday every mainstream school in the borough was closed because of a lack of public transport, house-bound staff and health and safety fears – except one.

New Brighton Primary, in Vaughan Road, Wallasey, refused to be beaten by the weather and at least 60% of pupils made it in.

Coleen Hibbard, headteacher of the 530-pupil school, said they were “lucky” because most staff live close by.

Wirral Council said it was happy the gritted site was safe.

Mrs Hibbard said the snow led to an impromptu maths lesson “where children counted snowballs”.

She added: “If parents were able to get to school safely, then it would have been a nonsense for us to close.”

Children’s centres and a handful of schools re-opened when weather conditions eased on Friday but Wirral Met College and all special schools remained shut for the rest of the week.

All council-run youth sports nights were cancelled and council sports pitches were over the weekend.

The majority of schools opened as normal on Monday.