The headteacher of Brougham Primary School has paid tribute to everyone following the fire to the school nursery during the summer holidays.

The nursery and pre-school area suffered significant damage following the fire on 13 August

Sarah Greenan, Headteacher of Brougham Primary School, 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 preschool 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 18 September.

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

Pupils from Reception to Year 6 return to Brougham on Tuesday 5 September.

Sarah 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. 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.”

Brougham is one of eight primary schools across Teesside under the umbrella of Ad Astra Academy Trust.

The other primary schools within Ad Astra Academy Trust are Barnard Grove, West Park and West View in Hartlepool, Crooksbarn and Rosebrook in Stockton-on-Tees and Ayresome and Sunnyside in Middlesbrough.