School at risk of flooding gets a new playground and better protection

A primary school in Cornwall has been given a brand new playground, complete with a pirate ship and cave, as part of works to protect the school and the local area from flooding.

The school is in a village in the south of England, which is situated in a deep valley.

It has two streams that run through it, so it's at risk of flash flooding.

It was identified as an area that needed better protection.

Flash floods are floods that happens very quickly in low-lying land, and they're usually caused by very heavy rain, or when water can't be absorbed quickly enough.

The Environment Agency (EA), which is a body in the UK that helps protect people and wildlife, installed new larger pipes beneath the school.

They are designed to help divert water and cope better with the amount of water during heavy rain.

Because the pipes run beneath the school's outside area, the Department for Education (DfE) and EA installed a brand new playground for them too.

There were speeches and a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the new play area.

Head teacher Sarah Trow said the children were "thrilled" with the new playground and villagers were relieved the risk of flooding had been reduced.

She said: "With the recent storms we've noticed the positive difference the work has had and as a school community we feel reassured knowing it will help protect us and the community in the future."

The EA said the work that has been done won't completely eliminate flooding, but will help it to happen less often.

The agency has also said it was working with landowners and farmers to slow flood flows into the village and the next step would be to provide flood doors to residents whose properties were at risk.