Part of a Shropshire school was flooded after a water pipe burst forcing firefighters to mount a clear up operation.

Wem firefighters were called to the Ruscoe Centre, at the Thomas Adams School, yesterday after the pipe burst on a water softening machine leaving the area which is used by boarders covered in about an inch of water.

The school cook discovered the problem as she was about to start preparing the pupils’ breakfast and immediately raised the alarm at 7.25am.

Water is believed to have gushed out from the machine overnight.

Firefighters headed to the nearby centre, in High Street, to tackle the deluge and leading firefighter Vic Young said he believed they had saved the school a lot of damage.

Mr Young said the crew isolated the supply before they cleared the water out and used specialist equipment to dry the ornate parquet floor.

He said: “It must have been going for some time and there was about an inch of water all over the ground floor.”

The Ruscoe Centre is at the rear of the school and is part of Thomas Adams sixth form college and is used for meals and as a social area by the boarders. Today, a school spokesman said the students still managed to have their breakfast and added the flood had not caused much disruption.