A school which only reopened after a multi-million pound refurbishment last year has been unable to welcome pupils back from their summer holidays after suffering serious flooding damage and an arson attack.
Haltwhistle Academy Primary School was the subject of a £2.65m project to switch it from a middle school to a primary school last year - but has now been devastated by "extensive" flooding damage from the upper floors.
Staff have said they are "devastated" by the damage that took place over the weekend, just before children were due to return to class.
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It was one of two incidents at the school over the weekend, after fire crews had to attend the school to put out a burning car. Northumbria Police have said they are treating the incident as arson.
The school is operated by WISE Academies trust, and officials have said they are working with Northumberland County Council in order to provide alternative provision and keep disruption to pupils to a minimum while the extent of the damage is assessed and an investigation is carried out.
Susie Drake, head teacher of Haltwhistle Primary Academy, said: “Over the weekend, the academy building has suffered extensive water damage due to flooding from the upper floors. We are devastated that this flooding has occurred and that our recently refurbished building has suffered such extensive damage. Please be assured that we and the WISE Academies team are doing all that we can to investigate and remedy this situation.
“We have already engaged specialists to assess the structural condition of the building and it is our number one priority to re‐open to all children as soon as it is practical and safe to do so.
“We have moved quickly to implement remote learning and we will keep parents informed of developments and when we are able to re‐open to pupils and thank all our school community for their support."
Audrey Kingham, Joint Interim Director of Children’s Services and Director of Education and Skills at Northumberland County Council added: "We are working closely with the school and WISE Academies to provide alternative arrangements for pupils, to keep any disruption to a minimum and get all children safely back to the classroom as soon as possible.
"A full investigation will take place into the cause of the incident and it is too early to comment on this further at this stage."
Northumbria Police has issued an appeal for information following the car fire, which took place on the Sunday night. The vehicle had been reported as stolen from outside the Northumbria Police area.
A spokeswoman for the force said: "Shortly before 10.55pm on Sunday, we were contacted by the Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service, who were in attendance at Haltwhistle primary school.
"It was reported a vehicle stolen from outside the force area, had been driven to the school and then set on fire by an individual, who then left the scene. The incident is being treated as a suspected arson and enquiries are ongoing.
"Anyone with information is asked to contact police using the Tell us Something page on our website quoting crime reference 104652Y/22."
Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service has confirmed it attended both incidents. A spokeswoman for the fire service said: "We were called to Haltwhistle Primary School at 10.30pm on Sunday night following reports that a car was on fire in the car park. We extinguished the fire and made the area safe.
“On Monday morning, we received a call from the school to report an incident of flooding. An officer attended the school to provide support, but no further support was required.”
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