PUPILS and teachers are preparing to move back into their school which has undergone a multi-million pound refit after being damaged by fire.

Staff at Hardwick Primary School, in Sedgefield, County Durham, have been packing their books and equipment ready for a return to the rebuilt classrooms after the Easter holidays.

An arson attack in January last year destroyed the junior wing, badly damaged the hall and damaged the rest of the school with smoke.

Four classrooms, a practical area, cloakrooms and toilets were lost, and the nursery unit was closed for safety reasons.

The local community rallied round to find alternative classrooms in Sedgefield Community College, the local parish hall and Sedgefield Primary School, for the 160 primary children and 40 part-time nursery children.

Durham County Council arranged for a temporary school to be constructed - the largest project of its kind it has undertaken.

The remains of the junior wing were demolished and removed, and the fire and smoke-damaged areas were reinstated.

The estimated costs for all the work involved is £1,692,000.

A removal firm has been moving all the equipment back into the old school ready for the children to move back on their return from the Easter holiday.

Headteacher Jill Coulson said staff and children were excited about the move back into what she calls the new school.

She said: "It'll be much better because, at the moment, nothing has a permanent home really and we're still living out of boxes in a way.

"We've had a tremendous view from our playground, watching what's been going on at the school, and everybody's really excited."

County council leader Ken Manton, who also represents Sedgefield, said: "I'm very pleased to see all the good work being completed so the school can return to normal.

"In effect, they've got a new school out of it because even the part of the school that wasn't totally destroyed has been virtually refitted."

The nursery children will move back into a refurbished and extended building, which will have a link to the primary school, later this month.

The temporary accommodation will be removed in May and the all-weather pitch it was build on returned to Sedgefield Community College