Telford primary school evacuated following gas leak

Staff at St Matthews Primary School in Donnington Wood took the decision to evacuate the building at 8am this morning because of an extremely strong smell of gas throughout the building.

At the time, only Year Six pupils were in school as they come in early. About 30 staff and 15 Year Six pupils were evacuated to the nearby Lifelong Learning Centre and the school was closed.

British Gas and Telford & Wrekin Council engineers are now out on site investigating the cause of the problem and all gas services to the building have been shut off as a precaution.

Head teacher Kate Clark said: “The safety of the pupils always comes first so we took a swift decision to evacuate as soon as we realised we had a problem.

“We got the message out that the school was closed via all local radio stations and social media and it has worked very effectively. I’d like to thank all my staff and pupils for their swift actions in evacuating the building and also parents for helping to spread the word.

“We will provide further updates on whether the school will re-open tomorrow as we have them.”