Burst pipes and heating failures have caused thousands of pounds worth of damage at Bradford schools on the first day of new term as the big thaw continued to wreak havoc across the district.

Five of the district’s schools turned away pupils, and staff at some schools are still cleaning up today after classrooms were damaged by water.

At The Holy Family Catholic School, in Keighley, several pipes have burst leaving the school without water, toilets or heating. A telephone message told parents that school bosses had no option but to remain shut until tomorrow at the earliest.

Woodlands Church of England Primary School, in Oakenshaw, was hoping to reopen today. A message on the Education Bradford website said: “Unfortunately despite the hard work of staff, in particular our caretaker, we are still unable to open our school. We have numerous frozen pipes, leaving the school without toilets, water or heating.”

At Cononley Primary School, Keighley, head teacher Stuart Anslow said flooding was discovered last Tuesday by a local person walking past the school, who noticed water pouring out from under the doors to the premises.

A total of 21 pipes in the property’s roof had burst during the recent thaw, leaving large parts of the school shin-deep in water.

Mr Anslow said the water cascaded from the ceilings, wrecking three of the five classrooms, the computer suite and his own office. He said the water had to be pumped out of the building, sodden carpeting removed, other destroyed material dumped in skips and salvaged items shifted to the school hall, which was not affected.

“What was most disheartening was the loss of so much of the children’s work,” he said. “We did lose some textbooks, but it was worse to lose the children’s own work books. There will need to be new ceilings and completely new pipes. The cost of the damage will run into hundreds of thousands. We have a couple of classrooms we can use but we can’t open yet because we have no running water.”

Elsewhere in Bradford, only nursery and reception classes were going ahead at Home Farm Primary School, Buttershaw, yesterday due to a heating failure. Newhall Park Primary School, Bierley, was closed with a similar problem although nursery visits were going ahead as planned.

Hill Top Church of England Primary, in Low Moor, had to close to Reception and Years 1 and 2 because of burst pipes over the holiday. Head teacher, Des Martin, praised the hard work of staff for their help clearing up.

Leaks from burst pipes are still stretching the resources of engineers. Yorkshire Water said its staff carried out 130 repairs in the region on Monday. A spokesman said the number of incidents were beginning to fall after an exceptionally busy December when the firm carried out 2,200 repairs – a threefold increased on normal levels.

Meanwhile, the clubhouse of Oakworth Juniors’ football club, recently built as part of a £600,000 facelift, has suffered flooding. Pipes burst during the recent cold spell and ruined equipment bought only two months previously.

Volunteers at the soccer club, which has about 200 young players, struggled to make the building safe over the Christmas break. The club last year redeveloped its long-time home at the Bronte playing fields in Oakworth.

Funding from the Football Association and Bradford Council helped pay for a clubhouse, large car park and the draining of the football pitches.

Club spokesman Marie Rowley said members were alerted by a parent who saw water leaking from the roof.

She said: “The flooding has ruined much of the new equipment. It was all hands on deck to clean up the water and get the structure safe.”