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Cold front puts Kingdown in the chiller - again
(December 12, 2008)
WINTER brings below freezing weather each year but it also brings another annual phenomenon in Warminster - the early return to home for hundreds upon hundreds of schoolchildren writes Paul Macdonald. "I cannot remember one year that I have been here that I have not, not, so had not had to go home because it is too cold inside to study," said one teenage girl who had urgently phoned an auntie.
She had been unable to get hold of her mother but was taking it as an opportunity to show her that she was 'grown-up' and act responsibly.
"Its no real drama," said another pupil. "We've got used to it. I'll go home with a mate like I've done before."
On Thursday pupils at Kingdown School were told to go home at lunchtime after a problem left classrooms without heating. The teaching day at Kingdown finishes at 2.50pm.
The school, which has one of the highest numbers on their roll of attendance in the county, is a huge complex ranging from the main building to the humanities block.
It has had special funding to establish itself as a community and sports college and serves a huge rural area as well as the town itself.
For some students it was a cause of celebration.
"I don't mind," said a 14-year-old boy. "I'm not into my next subject anyway."
It was unfortunate because many parents had coped with an early finish on Tuesday for a parents' evening which actually starts at 2pm.