Bosses at Persimmon Homes North East have answered a plea for help from a Northumberland headteacher as she readies her school for reopening by donating essential building materials.

Jenny Morgan, head of Whitley Chapel First School, Steele, Hexham, was faced with a problem after a combination of a fire, Covid 19 and a nationwide shortage of plaster conspired to delay pupils’ return. She explained: “Unfortunately we had a fire earlier in the year and it left us with a hole in the roof and damage to the girls’ toilets. The plan had been for the repairs to be carried out during the Easter break, but of course the lockdown came just ahead of that and then our builder discovered there was a nationwide shortage of plaster.We feared we weren’t going to be able to source the materials until mid-July at the earliest.”

With plans moving ahead for the school to reopen Jenny made an appeal to the housebuilder for six bags of plaster to resurface the toilet walls and the firm was happy to help. Chris Curry, director in charge of Persimmon Homes North East, said: “When we received Jenny’s appeal for help we were keen to do what we could. Luckily we were able to source and donate the six bags and the builder will hopefully be able to finish the project in time for the children to be able to return to their classrooms.”

Jenny added: “We have had six children in school during the lockdown, five boys and one girl, so the toilets haven’t been a problem until now. But as we look to welcome back more of our 36-strong cohort we need the facilities and to comply with the handwashing regimes. We all want to say a huge thank you to Persimmon for supporting our school and supplying the bags of plaster in time for our staged reopening.”