Skipton Girls' High School is demanding answers and compensation for the disturbance it has suffered due to a power blow-out.

Staff and pupils - some of whom were sitting mocks and AS and A level module exams - found their Gargrave Road school in chaos when they returned from their Christmas holidays.

During the festive period, an electrical fault had blown up the boiler, disabled the telephone lines, intruder alarm and air conditioning and caused other equipment such as the dish-washer, hand dryers, photocopier and printers to stop working.

Headteacher Janet Renou said the extent of the damage had been unravelled bit by bit as staff and pupils got back to work. Now, a fortnight later, the school was still having to make do with heaters.

She explained that if the weather had been any colder she would have sent some pupils home.

Mrs Renou also told the Herald some lessons had been moved out of the school's newest block as the corridors were cold. However it could be some time before the boiler is mended because the school is waiting for a part.

She said she believed there had been a power cut and the problem occurred when the power came back on, sending a massive surge through the school and damaging the circuitry.

She told the Herald she knew in one home nearby the bulbs had been blown out of their sockets and the cooker had exploded.

Mrs Renou has written a letter to power supplier Yorkshire Electricity Distribution plc (YEDL) to tell it about the upheaval the electrical problems caused and to ask how it can reclaim the £2,000 spent on replacing equipment and repairs.

She said: "When we started back we had no telephones and no email, no communication into the school whatsoever. It was a worry to have 700 pupils in the school with no means of communication."

Mrs Renou said they had had little response from the electricity company.

Ann Walker, spokeswoman for YEDL, said: "CE Electric UK, distributes electricity through its subsidiary company Yorkshire Electricity Distribution plc (YEDL) to customers in Skipton.

"On December 23 a fault occurred in a low voltage cable which interrupted the supplies to 50 customers in the Gargrave Road area.

"Although the majority of customers had their supplies restored at 11.53am that day, five customers in Harewood Road were without supply until 8.25am the next morning.

"The fault recurred at 9.30am affecting the same customers apart from the five in Harewood Road who had their supplies restored by a generator. The cable was replaced and permanent repairs completed at 4.20pm on Christmas Eve."

She added: "All claims for compensation are dealt with on an individual basis following the rules laid down by the industry regulator, Ofgem.

"We apologise to all customers affected and assure them every effort was made to restore supplies as quickly as possible."