RED Lane Primary School chiefs are still working to establish whether it will reopen as usual next week following a fire.

The blaze caused extensive damage to the nursery and early years classrooms as well as some secondary damage to a further classroom.

Breightmet councillor John Byrne said that the school may have to consider using temporary portable buildings to accommodate affected classes.

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In a joint statement from the chairman of the school’s trust, Craig Graham, and executive headteacher Lisa Whittaker said: “We are currently working with the local authority to assess the impact of the fire and working to get essential services resumed and begin the clean-up operation. At this stage, we are working as hard as we can to arrange alternative provisions to ensure we can reopen as normal after half term.

“We are co-operating fully with the police investigation and in collaboration with them have now had a chance to review our CCTV footage.

“As ever, we remain committed to our children, and our top priority is to ensure that their education is not interrupted as a result of this awful event.”

Mr Graham and Mrs Whittaker also thanked the emergency services for their swift action to ensure that damage to the school was limited.