Pupils and staff at a Medway school got an extra lie in this morning as their school was closed because of a problem with the heating system.

Youngsters and staff at Walderslade Girls School, in Chatham, didn’t return to class this morning as most other pupils across the Towns.

Head teacher, Louise McGowan, posted an urgent message on the school’s website on Monday, January 2, to say the school would be closed today due to a problem with the electrical and heating systems.

The message included an apology about the inconvenience to the beginning of term, and said a trip for Years 12 youngsters scheduled for tomorrow was still going ahead a planned.

Mrs McGowan said: “We hope to have this fixed during the course of the day and will post updates to confirm when school can open again.

“Apologies to all for this inconvenience at the start of the new term.

“Please be aware that the Year 12 taster day trip to Greenwich University, organised by Mrs Richards, is going ahead on Wednesday 4th of January as planned.”

The secondary school in Bradfields Avenue, has almost 900 pupils and in September this year had to be evacuated for the third time in three days after a newly-installed fire alarm went off for a third time, when the ultra-sensitive system was triggered.

Once it was established there was no fire, pupils were allowed back to class within five minutes.

An investigation after the first alarm sounded that week revealed it had been sparked by deodorants.

Mrs McGowan then sent a text message to parents banning aerosols from being brought on to the site.