Teachers in the UK faced with broken boilers should spare a thought for staff across the Atlantic who had to send children home when their building was flooded with sewage.

Impressively, youngsters at Central Middle School in Anchorage, Alaska - the stomping ground of former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin - returned to lessons the same day, after their smelly classrooms had been cleaned.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, the leak, which happened just before Christmas, was caused by a blockage in underground pipes.

Rhonda Gardner, assistant superintendent of the school board, said school administrators made the immediate decision to get pupils out of the building because of potential health hazards. Seventh-graders were sent next door to Chugach Optional Elementary, while eighth-graders were driven about a mile away to Romig Middle School.

The 100 pupils who had not been picked up by their parents by the end of the day returned to the school in time for their homeward buses.