THEY’RE the pupil refugees forced by floods to quit their classroom and set up camp in the sports hall.

But the St Bernard’s RC Primary School youngsters in Burnage can claim one record... they have got the biggest classroom in the country (although it can get a bit chilly in there at times).

The school on Burnage Lane was hit by floods during the first week of term and although portable cabins were brought in to help cope with the emergency, around 43 nursery children - aged three and four - have been having lessons in the sports hall.

And to top it off, this week, the whole school had to be evacuated after a fusebox in the staff room began smouldering and giving off smoke. They were only allowed back in the following day after firefighters made the area safe.

Wendy Holmes, a teaching assistant at the school, described how the pupils and staff had been coping.

She said: "It’s been chaos, we keep wondering what’s going to happen next.

"I’ve never seen the like of it in the four and half years I’ve been here. The children are fed up because PE lessons like basketball and indoor football have had to stop and there’s nowhere for them to play.

"And because it’s a sports hall it’s got air conditioning rather than heating, so it’s not ideal. It’s bedlam really."

The drama began during the weekend before the start of term when nearby Cringle Brook flooded and left classrooms under one foot of water.

Around £100,000-worth of damage was caused to the nursery and reception classes, and although the Foundation Unit was already on a waiting list to be rebuilt in 2011, headteacher Patrick Gallagher is hoping that this can be brought forward and that the Government will cover the cost.

He said: "The loss adjuster condemned a lot of the resources like furniture, games and toys, because of the risk of water-based infections.

"We are now in the process of reordering equipment, but it’s difficult to say how long it’ll take before the classes are reopen.

"In terms of a long term plan, it depends on the finance available to rebuild the foundation unit.

"We are on the Primary Capital Programme waiting list for a replacement building near to the main school building.

"So we are meant to get a rebuild by 2011, but priorities can change and we are hoping this can be brought forward because there is a fear that this could happen again."

The children were due to start school at the beginning of September, but had to be sent home for a week while temporary classrooms were set up in a portable cabin.

It was thought that parents of children due to start nursery would have to make alternative arrangements, but provisions were swiftly put into place to accommodate the 43 youngsters in the sports hall which St Bernard’s shares with neighbouring Green End Primary School.

Mr Gallagher said he was grateful to staff for helping to get the temporary measures in place so quickly. "It’s not easy nor ideal, but everyone worked together to get the classrooms organised and in the end the reception class only missed a week while the painters were redecorating the cabins.

"We are glad that the nursery intake wasn’t delayed at all," he added.

The Environment Agency are now looking into flood risks near the school.