A SCHOOL in Hampshire has been devastated by flooding.

Durley CofE School has been forced to close its doors after floods ripped through the building and saw up to seven inches of water in the classrooms.

Headteacher Kirstie Baines has said that they are now on a mission to get the school back on track by Monday but the flooding has caused severe damage to their hall.

Mrs Baines told the Daily Echo that it’s a “very sad sight” at the school today as every room was filled with water and the wooden flooring in the hall has been pushed up by the force of the water – meaning it will have to be closed until the end of term.

It’s not the first time the school, in Durley Brook Road, has been a victim of flooding.

In July 2013 the school was shut by flooding as it is near a brook but Mrs Baines said she has never seen it this bad before.

She said: “It’s so sad to see the school this way but we’re doing everything we possibly can to sort out the problem.”

After the flooding incident in 2013 the school took extra measures to avoid problems, putting up flood barriers and offering training to people in the community and parents to help put up the barriers when they needed.

Mrs Baines said that it was a school parent who woke at 1am to the sounds of lightning and heavy rainfall and went to the school to put up the barriers and she was then called to the school to see the damage at 6.30am this morning.

“He is our hero for doing that.

"Unfortunately it didn’t seem to work as the water got through under the floors and through the air brick.

"We’ve been through this before not nearly as bad but we can handle it and we will do everything we can to sort this by Monday.”

All the water has now been drained from the school and there are dryers that will be working through the weekend to get the school ready again.

Mrs Baines added: “I’m hoping with four days of work it will be alright again, sadly the hall is probably going to have to stay closed which will mean trying to find somewhere to hold our school show in a few weeks.”

Teaching staff were alerted to the flooding early this morning and told not to come in to the school as the road was closed.

Parents were contacted by 8am and told not to come to the school.

Thornhill Primary school in Byron Road, Southampton has also been forced to shut  due to the torrential down pour.

They will remain shut on Friday as well as bad weather continues to batter the south.