A DURHAM junior school flooded during last month's heavy rains will be ready to open for the new term.

Belmont Church of England Junior School suffered thousands of pounds of damage three weeks ago.

But its 160 pupils will be able to start the academic year as planned on Wednesday thanks to a round-the-clock effort to clean up the mess.

"The whole school was under at least nine inches of water,'' said headteacher Alison Keddie.

"It has been a huge effort to get everything ready in time.

"Furniture, floors and carpets were damaged and we've lost a lot of resources but we will open on time.

"We'll be ordering in resources as quickly as we can but as far as we are concerned it's business as usual."