Anger as arson school in Bilston to stay shut for weeks

All 406 pupils at Wilkinson Primary in Bilston are being told to stay at home while mobile classrooms that have been used for the three years since the fire are removed by cranes.

The work is being carried out ahead of pupils moving into £8.2 million replacement premises in January, which are being built on the site of its arson-hit predecessor in Walter Road, Bradley.

Contractors say the work to remove mobile classrooms will take at least three weeks and that it is not safe for pupils to be on site while the work is being carried out.

Pupils will therefore begin their Christmas holidays on December 4 and have a four-week break instead of the usual two.

But families today criticised the move. One mother said: "As a parent who works full time, I am concerned that the school has chosen to close for an entire month.

"The school usually offers an excellent before and after-school care scheme, but I feel that we have been let down tremendously on this occasion. Where on earth am I supposed to send my child during this time? I cannot possibly take an entire month off work. This, on top of the possible damage to our child's education, is totally unacceptable."

Head Tina Gibbon said the school was only closed for four days when it was burned down in 2010 and it remained open during snow earlier this year. She said teachers would devise extra work for children to take home for the first fortnight of their extended break and staff would not be taking inset days to make up time lost.

She added: "We just can't risk anything going wrong while the cranes are on site."