Pupils have been sent home early after their school was left without running water.

Five Acre Wood in Loose, along with many homes in the area, have seen their taps run dry as a result of two bursts in the town centre.

At 11.20am, South East Water reported on its website that there was a problem.

It said: “We're really sorry to those of you who have no water or low water pressure. We are looking into the cause as a priority.

“Please be assured that we are working as quickly as possible to get your supply back up and running as soon as we can.”

It is understood it will be fixed just after 4pm.

Five Acre Wood, in Boughton Lane, warned parents it had been forced to shut as a result.

On the school’s Facebook page, it said: “Unfortunately, we currently have no water at the Loose site due to mains supply issues.

“Our tanks hold very limited water and after a time, with no mains water, it presents us with a significant health and safety risk.

“Therefore, we have made the decision to allow pupils to be collected earlier today should parents/carers wish to do so.

“Apologies for any inconvenience caused and we will keep you informed of any updates.”

It has since been revealed that the outage has been caused by two bursts in the town centre – which is affecting the High Street, Pudding Lane, Fairmeadow and parts of Earl Street.

Steve Andrews, incident manager at South East Water said: “We’re sorry to customers in Maidstone and Loose who either have low water pressure or no water at the moment.

“This is due to two separate bursts in Maidstone town centre, which have also impacted our equipment in the Loose area.

“Our teams are out preparing to carry out the necessary repairs and delivering alternative water to those locations that need it.

“Once again, we are sorry for any inconvenience these drinking water supply issues have caused.”

Five Acre Wood School looks after children with profound, severe and complex learning difficulties.

Staff have already expressed their frustration and are urging the utility company to fix the problem.

The last outage was in September when businesses and up to 1,000 homes were without water for several hours.

Principal Peggy Murphy previously told KentOnline very few children live nearby, with approximately 350 arriving via taxis and 150 being dropped off by other means.

She said: “We know the difficulties our young people and families are having when we have to close at very short notice.

“A child with autism knows that when they put their uniform on, it means they're going to school.

“But suddenly they’re not. Then you have the inevitable meltdown where they become very challenging and you understand why.

“Our children absolutely love coming here and we love having them here, so it's disappointing for all parties involved.”