4:20pm Sunday 10th January 2010
By James Nadal
MORE than 150 children, parents, staff and others got out their shovels and brooms to clear mounds of snow at a Flackwell Heath primary school.
Even former pupils joined in the mass clear up operation this afternoon at Juniper Hill primary School in Churchill Close to enable schoolchildren to return tomorrow.
Headteacher Hilary Nohavicka hailed the "community spirit" shown in getting the snow cleared.
She said: “It’s been amazing. They’ve cleared all the car park and an area all the way around the school.
“It’s a brilliant school anyway but this it’s one of the best things abut it."
She said although it is important to try to continue as normal, safety comes first.
“We want to keep open as much as we can but you have to balance that with making sure the site is safe for the children and you can get in," she said.
“The paramount thing is the safety of everyone in the school community.”
There are about 430 pupils at the school, all of whom should be back in their classrooms again tomorrow, barring a dramatic deterioration in the weather.
Mrs Nohavicka said:“We are expecting to be able to open it’s just now a question of whether staff can get in.”
Princes Risborough School also recruited friends, parents and pupils in a bid to open tomorrow for external exams.
It held a ‘snow shovelling party’ this afternoon, while the use of a tractor was leant out to help the effort by Jim Dance of Risborough Agricultural Services.
John Hampden Grammar School in Marlow Hill, High Wycombe, also staged a similar snow clearing operation today.
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