Headteacher praises St George's Junior School staff as work begins again on fire-ravaged buildings

Smoke: The fire was a shock, but pupils returned to school that very day

Neighbours to St George's College Junior School, Weybridge, heard an explosion before smoke billowed from the buildings on March 13 of this year.

Children returned to school that day but the work on the new £5.3m school buildings was severely affected.

Antony Hudson, headmaster, said the fire was very unfortunate but confirmed investigations found all safety systems were properly in place and followed.

He said: "The school evacuation was carried out extremely well, albeit with variations to standard procedures needing to be used due to the central location of the fire and the direction of the smoke being blown, which demonstrated outstanding initiative by our staff.

"The safety planning carried out in the event of an incident in the building compound for the new build was clearly vindicated.

"Feedback from parents for the way the school handled the incident has been overwhelmingly positive. The emergency services were extremely complimentary about the evacuation, pointing out that the school did everything that was expected of them under the circumstances.

"In terms of the structure of the new build, which is still under construction and was due to open in September 2015, other than burning off the various layers and insulation, little other damage was caused and 70 per cent of the metal roof sheeting will be re-used."

The blaze required eight fire engines, 40 firefighters, and aerial ladder platform and a water carrier were sent to the Thames Street school.

Children and staff were said to not be near the site when the fire started and the students, boys and girls aged three to 11, were all unhurt and accounted for following the evacuation.