Pupils at a city grammar are being told to remain at home after one of the school's boilers broke down.

Bosses from Simon Langton Girls' in Canterbury have announced that the secondary will be closed tomorrow, after engineers were unable restore hot water to the building.

They have written to parents telling them that they hope to return to normal on Monday.

The email reads: "Usually most of the school is supplied by three boilers, two to supply the heating and one specifically for hot water – it is this one that has broken down.

"Despite attempts to work around the fault by running our heating and hot water from the two working boilers, the system is not producing water that is even lukewarm, let alone hot.

"At any time this would be enough to require the closure of the school whilst the problem is resolved, even more so at the moment with the need for stringent hand hygiene.

"We will therefore be closed to all students tomorrow while engineers fix the problem to allow the school to function as normal on Monday."

Bosses had already told parents that their children should wrap up warm and not wear their uniforms, if engineers were able to rectify the issue.

But with the school closed, pupils will instead have work set for them online on Microsoft Teams.

"I am sure that you will appreciate that with the fault emerging late in the day, and teachers having little time to prepare in advance, work set will probably be more student directed and less face-to-face," the email continues.

"Thank you for your understanding."

This comes after new photographs were released last month showing how work is progressing at the school’s £20 million new teaching block and sports hall.

Construction of the state-of-the-art facility - which is being erected on parts of the existing visitor car park, the playground and a playing field - began in August last year.

The grammar was given the green light to replace dilapidated buildings dating back to the 1950s with the new structure, after an of the site in 2017 uncovered more than 600 defects, with parts in “significant levels of disrepair”.

Work is on track to be completed by the end of this month, paving the way for the demolition of the old school to begin - and for pupils to move into the new classrooms - in January.

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