A SCHOOL was forced to close and send pupils home on Tuesday, after Thames Water staff burst a pipe during regular maintenance.

St Joseph’s Catholic High School in Slough said pupils could not flush the toilets and the canteen had no water supply following the incident in the morning.

Thames Water were working at the school in Shaggy Calf Lane when staff accidentally caused a leak in the pipe forcing them to isolate the entire water supply as a result. The school took the decision to send pupils home at around 11.30am.

The issue was not rectified until 6pm, but the school re-opened as normal on Wednesday.

Head of school, Louise Baker, said: “We sent pupils home in stages to keep them calm. We wanted to make parents aware so kept the youngest ones as long as we could.”

She added: “They were carrying out maintenance in our car park when it happened.”

A spokesman for Thames Water said: “We’re sorry for the disruption to the school day.

“This was as a result of a leaking water pipe, which was accidentally caused by our maintenance team, who immediately requested a repair.

“In order to undertake this safely and to reduce the risk of flooding, our engineers had to shut off the school’s water supply.

“The pipe was fixed on Tuesday evening.”