More than 1,000 pupils are being sent home from a secondary school this morning because it has no running water.

Bosses at St Anselm’s Roman Catholic School in Canterbury have been forced to close the site after a water main burst, cutting off the supply.

In an email to parents, they say the school will shut at 10am for “health and safety reasons”.

“Your child will, where possible, contact you and ask for you to send them a text message confirming that you are happy for them to leave and make their own way home,” they added.

“ The pupils will have been set an extended task from their lesson this morning to complete at home.

“Those pupils eligible for free school meals will be offered a packed lunch to take with them.

“If you need your child to remain in school, there will be supervision available until the end of the normal school day.

“Please note though that there will be no hot food available; those in such circumstances who need lunch will be able to have a sandwich.”

Engineers have advised the school repairs to the main will take most of the day to repair.

The school said: “We are hopeful that supplies will be restored and we will be able to open as normal tomorrow.

“Please accept our apologies for this disruption, but we know you will appreciate that these circumstances are outside of our control.”

The burst water main was reported shortly before 8am today.

South East Water has apologised to those experiencing low water pressure or no water in the New Dover Road area and says it is working to fix it as quickly as possible.

It is estimated water will return to normal at about 1pm.