A Pool-IN-WHARFEDALE school suffered the worst possible start to the New Year when a classroom was flooded with icy water - destroying £2,000 worth of books and equipment.

Pool C of E Primary's Key Stage 1 (KS1) area was completely drenched during the early hours of January 1 as frozen water thawed and the building's upstairs water pipes sprang no fewer than 16 leaks.

That sent water bursting through the ceiling into the infants' department, which also acts as the school's book storage area, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

After being alerted to the problem, head teacher Linda Hodson started her New Year by watching Cookridge firefighters, helped by a West Yorkshire Fire Service salvage team, pumping water out of her classrooms.

KS1 pupils had to stay at home on Monday as the finishing repairs were carried out to their area, but older students were able to return to school as normal.

Mrs Hodson said things could have been a lot worse. "We have been lucky, really", she said.

"If it had been a normal weekend we would have had less time to get things back to normal, but as it is we had some extra time after New Year and our younger pupils have only lost one school day.

"Most of the work was completed before the beginning of this week, and Monday was spent by the contractors and electricians just finishing things off, getting the lights back on, that sort of thing.

"I am full of praise for the Fire Brigade and the council workforce because they have been in school since New Year's Day getting the whole place right again."

Recalling how her 2004 started, she added: "I got a call from my superintendent first thing in the morning, and it seems that a number of pipes had leaked, causing water to burst through the ceiling and rush down the corridors.

"So we called the Fire service to come and pump it out - it was unfortunate it was Key Stage 1 which was hit worst, because that's where we keep most of our reading books and they've been quite badly damaged.

"The water flowed right along the corridors and into most of the classrooms, but they really just needed drying out. But in the KS1 area the water had come straight down from above and hit the books, that was the problem, and some of the larger text books cost £20 apiece.

"Let's hope we have put our bad luck for 2004 behind us early - at least we have no Ofsted this year!"

The school is now hoping its insurance cover will help it replace the estimated £2,000 worth of books and other equipment which were destroyed in the flood.

Insurance money will also be needed to pay for substantial repairs to the ceiling of the KS1 shared area.