Noss School closure followed a burst hot water pipe, says MSP

Gail Ross, right, helped announce the names of Noss and also Newton Primary School two years ago

A "boiling hot" water pipe burst above two classrooms at a new school, an MSP has revealed.

Noss Primary in Wick is closed until 30 May following what Highland Council described as a "significant failure" at the £15.4m building on Tuesday.

Gail Ross, who is the local MSP and a councillor, said it was "a saving grace" that pupils were having their lunch and not in the rooms at the time.

The new school only opened to pupils last month.

It was built as a replacement for Wick's North and Hillhead primary schools.

Noss Primary School opened to pupils in April

Ms Ross, who helped to unveil the name for the new school in 2014, described Tuesday's burst as "worrying" and "concerning".

She told BBC Radio Scotland: "I spoke to the headmaster yesterday. He told me he came upon it in the corridor and its was like a sauna - a boiling hot water pipe had burst above two classrooms.

"The only saving grace was that the children were in the dining hall at the time because it doesn't bear thinking about the consequences of that if the kids had been in the classrooms."

Highland Council said the school was closed "due to a significant failure" of a hot water connection to the heating system in the ceiling of the east wing of the building.

The local authority said work repairing and testing the system was expected to take three days.

Graham Nichols, an officer at Highland Council, said: "While this is disappointing, the testing will give us confidence in the integrity of the water systems, and allow additional time for the building to dry out."