Most pupils to remain out of Royston's storm damaged school

Headteacher Lisa Plowman said staff took the "difficult decision" to keep most pupils out of the school for safety reasons

A school is to remain closed for most of its pupils for another week after it was damaged in Storm Henk.

King James Academy in Royston, Hertfordshire, was closed to Years 7 to 11 because of a damaged roof that led to flooding.

Year 11 pupils have returned to school but Years 7 to 10 "will receive remote education", the headteacher said.

Lisa Plowman said the decision was taken because "we cannot be sure the main teaching block is safe".

In a letter to parents on Wednesday, Ms Plowman said the storm on 2 January damaged the main teaching block, caused further damage to another roof and affected "many areas of cladding".

This resulted in "significant flooding across three floors of the main teaching building".

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The school is the largest in Royston with nearly 1,000 pupils.

"Working with insurers, surveyors, and assessors, our conclusion is that whilst small areas of the site have been cleared as safe to use, we cannot be sure that the main teaching block is completely safe," she said.

"Therefore we have collectively taken the difficult decision to keep the senior site closed to all students except for Year 11 for the next week (beginning 15 January)."

She said if the situation continued for longer, the school's leadership team planned to "bring students on site on rotation pending further risk assessments and confirmation from external professionals".