Update on fire at local school

The building was evacuated safely and no one was injured. The Fire Brigade has now confirmed the blaze was accidental.

The school is grateful for the support of the brigade who responded within six minutes and dealt with the fire so effectively.

Ten appliances took six hours to bring the blaze under control during which time five classrooms were severely damaged along with structural damage to the roof.

The remainder of the building has been affected by smoke and water.

The school and Harrow Council are working together to plan and put in place measures that will allow the school to reopen and ensure that high standards of accommodation are maintained for pupils and staff.

The school has singled out the Fire Brigade for praise and acknowledged the support of other schools that have come forward with offers of help since the incident.

The school's priority is the safety and care of its pupils and their individual learning and achievement. As a result, it will focus on maintaining the quality of teaching, learning and delivery of the curriculum when pupils start the new term.

The head teacher is ensuring that there are good communications links with parents-carers, including putting information on the school's website and writing to parents about the arrangements for the start of term.

A letter has already been sent to parents with further info available at the end of the week.

Head Teacher Janice Howkins said: "I want to reassure pupils and parents that we are making plans for the beginning of term.

"Active working is taking place and we're all pulling together to ensure that education is delivered on site.

"We will be keeping pupils, parents and staff informed of latest developments and our main aim is to keep disruption to a minimum."

Councillor Christine Bednell added: "I'm terribly sorry to hear about what has happened and the council and its partners are doing everything possible to get to the school up and running again as soon as possible."

On a brighter note, pupils still managed to collect their GCSE exam results from the school last week with 67% passing five or more A*-C grades.