Eight weeks ago fire tore through Withins School destroying 20 classrooms and causing £600,000 worth of damage. Nothing less than determination and fighting spirit could have hauled the school through its most difficult time to date... TODAY scaffolding holds up a temporary roof but massive progress has been made in the battle to get the Breightmet comprehensive back on its feet.

Three of the devastated classrooms now house pupils, and headteacher Judith Richardson confidently predicts that all but two will be up and running after the summer holidays.

She could hardly believe her eyes when she arrived at the school at just after 9am on that fateful Sunday morning.

She had received a call from deputy head Stuart Jackson at 8.15am. "But nothing prepared me for what I faced when I walked into the school," she said.

"I didn't really given myself chance to think about what might be in front of me, I just drove in and then started organising.

"It wasn't until just after lunch that the realisation of what had happened finally dawned and I started to feel angry for all the people whose work was devastated in the fire.

"It's not just the work of the pupils, it was the teachers too. Many of them had spent years building up their departments to the high standards," she said.

Computers, science materials, files, records and expensive language equipment all perished as the fire raged.

Smoke and water also caused substantial damage to many of the rooms. Fortunately pupils' GCSE course work had been sent to examining bodies so no examination results were affected. And none of the examinations which had already started were affected, though staff had to work extra hard to ensure each pupil got the chance to gain their GCSE's.

Amazingly the entire school was only closed for the one day. By the Tuesday, years seven and 10 were back behind their desks and then after the half term break everyone had returned.

Credit for all these achievements is shared between many individuals and organisations. But at the heart stands the LEA which, says Judith, has provided expert help and support throughout.

The sense of shock felt by Judith, the teaching staff, and parents was also shared by pupils who could not believe their eyes when they first walked into the school.

"The organisation involved in getting things back to as normal as possible is quite unbelievable but I feel we're getting there," she added."It's obviously been quite a difficult time for staff and children. There's an awful lot to take in and a lot to cope with."

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