A van driver ploughed into railings and a telegraph pole just yards from pupils at Ramshaw Primary School on Thursday, February 9.
Luckily, nobody was hurt but staff and children were “sent back to the 1980s” by a six-day technology blackout.
Headteacher Dominic Brown revealed the shock of the initial collision.
He said: “There was a tremendous crash outside – we thought a lorry had shed its load but we saw the telegraph pole was broken and hanging across the road.
“It was just a few feet away from a classroom – fortunately there were bollard and crumple zones that took the main impact.”
Fire crews arrived just after noon to make the electric pole safe and police dealt with the motorist.
But the aftermath of the crash brought some longer-lasting consequences.
“We've had a really interesting few days without any internet or any electronic correspondence,” added Mr Brown.
“We needed them to access the lesson resources and assessments – it’s almost been a case of going back to the Victorian age.
“We thought about breaking out a few slates – the iPads and laptops we had were a bit redundant.”
It was one piece of hardy technology stashed away in a drawer which kept the school in touch with the outside world.
Mr Brown added: “We had to break out an old Samsung we had for emergencies and school trips – we’ve been using that all week.
“It’s almost been like the 1980s.”
By holding the phone up outside the building, staff managed to secure the vital one bar of signal to keep connected. Modern communications returned to the school last Wednesday (February 15) and a new telegraph pole has been installed.
Mr Brown paid tribute to staff for their make-do-and-mend attitude.
He said: “We’re not too far behind because we’ve got fabulous staff who worked from home and picked up emails from their own personal accounts.
“They all had to put a few extra hours in over the past few nights.”
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