Chorley school quells rat scare (From Chorley Citizen)

Chorley school quells rat scare

9:21am Wednesday 19th November 2008 in News By Andrew Greaves

Parents have hit out at a Chorley primary school after claiming that they were kept in the dark about a rat problem in the kitchens.

The Duke Street Primary School Parents’ Support Forum contacted the Citizen this week furious that they had not been told about the infestation, which the school has blamed on building work taking place on the site.

A spokesman for the Forum, which posted the story on its online blog, said: “The school are very quick to inform us that our children have lice infestations yet they are unable to tell us about their vermin infestation – worse that they should hide the truth from parents.”

Headteacher Andrew Kidd admitted there was a problem but said the school, which has 276 pupils, had taken every precaution necessary.

He said: “On Wednesday October 22, possibly due to building work close to the school kitchen, it is believed a rat was able to gain access to a wash-up area adjacent to the main kitchen.

“As soon as we were made aware of the problem, I immediately contacted the Environmental Health Office (EHO).

“The EHO attended, ensured professional remedial action was taken – including using industrial cleaners to sanitise the area – and confirmed that the kitchen was safe to use.”

In the online blog, parents slammed the school and said that they only realised something was wrong when pupils were served cold sandwiches instead of hot meals.

But Mr Kidd said the cold meals were served because the gas supply had to be cut while work on the new Duke Street Nursery building was completed.

He said: “Children were served with sandwiches for a couple of days after half-term, but this was due to the gas supply to the cookers being cut off during the completion of the building work, and was not connected to the incident in the wash-up area.

“The health and safety of children and staff is of paramount importance, and at no point was the health of children or staff put at risk.”

Lancashire County Council confirmed that an investigation had been carried out. A spokesman said: “We have worked with the school and with Environmental Health and we are satisfied that the children’s health has not been put at risk.”