Praise for fire crews who ‘saved’ school

A HIGH school will remain closed today as police and the fire service investigate the cause of a suspicious blaze.

Crews from six fire stations tackled the large fire at Sherburn High in Sherburnin-Elmet in the early hours of yesterday, with the gym and changing rooms bearing the brunt of the damage.

It is being treated as suspicious and the police are conducting forensic tests and examining CCTV footage.

Neighbourhood Policing Inspector Ian Mcniff, of North Yorkshire Police, said: “We understand the impact the fire has had on the community and we will conduct a thorough investigation into the incident, providing updates when appropriate.”

North Yorkshire County Council said work was being carried out to allow classes to resume. Headteacher Maria Williams thanked firefighters for preventing further damage to the building. She said: “As the teaching and administrative areas have been saved, we believe no student work has been lost. “All public examinations have finished, as well as our celebration evenings and sports day and we can confirm that school trips that had been planned for the end of term, some of them overseas, will still go ahead.” She said 160 Year Six children from local primaries, who had been visiting Sherburn to get accustomed to life in secondary school, would return to their own schools for the time being.