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The headteacher has again praised the community for its support as as her school reopened its doors to pupils following a “devastating” fire during the summer holidays.

The nursery and pre-school area at Brougham Primary School, in Brougham Terrace, Hartlepool, suffered significant damage following the suspected arson attack on August 13.

As a result, nursery and pre-school children will not return to the school until next week.

But the remaining classes have now resumed lessons on Tuesday, September 5, at the start of the new academic year.

Brougham Primary School headteacher Sarah Greenan.

Headteacher Sarah Greenan said: “It has certainly been a challenging time for everyone associated with the school.

"But our jobs have been made much easier thanks to the amazing support we’ve received.

“We are making good progress and our contractors are working closely with the insurers to ensure that the nursery and preschool classrooms are cleared ready for the refurbishment to begin.

“In the meantime, nursery and pre-school children will be taught in temporary classrooms which arrived on site recently and are currently in the process of being fitted out ready for our youngest children to return on Monday, September 11.

A picture of just some of the damage following August's fire at Brougham Primary School.

“Once fitted out, we will be able to start to add furniture and resources to create a stimulating and exciting environment.”

Praising the community’s response to the fire, Ms Greenan continued: “We are determined to ensure that this devastating event does not affect our school vision to provide the best education for our pupils to help them to be the best they can be.

“To do this we will continue to provide a wonderful school curriculum by ensuring that all items and resources lost are replaced.

"This has been helped by donations from other schools, particularly those in our trust.

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"The support from the community has also been fantastic and has really helped to raise the spirits of the staff in school.

“We will continue to keep all parents updated on the progress of the refurbishment and we are looking forward to welcoming our youngest pupils back to school.”

Firefighters tackled the blaze for more than two hours after it erupted at around 9.45pm.

A Cleveland Police spokesperson later said: “The fire is being treated as suspicious and inquiries are ongoing.

“Anyone with information should contact us on 101, quoting reference number 161106.”

Hartlepool headteacher's praise for 'fantastic' community as Brougham Primary School reopens following arson attack