Community rallying round to help families at fire-hit Halifax school

Youngsters from Ash Green Primary School's upper site have been invited to enjoy crafts at Holy Nativity Church this morning and again this afternoon.

Four classrooms, belonging to years 3 to 6, were destroyed by the fire on Tuesday night.

The church was open yesterday for anyone needing support or to talk and today there are drop-in sessions offering the crafts, brews and food to take away, donated by Morrisons.

Vicar of the church Rev Robb Sutherland said yesterday's opening had been a huge success.

"The response to such challenging circumstances from the whole community here in Mixenden has been amazing," he said.

"From offering a cup of tea and a space for people to gather at Holy Nativity, we soon decided to start serving bacon butties. Then we had a surprise as Scoffers came through the door with a tray of sandwiches.

"So as people are together and chatted, toddlers toddled with the toy box on a rug and we dug out some craft activities for the older children. Staff from Ash Green Upper came and found some familiar faces in the youngsters they should have been teaching and we came together as a community. We shared in each other’s lives at a very challenging time."

The school's headteacher Mungo Sheppard has vowed to get children back into school as soon as possible.

In a message to parents, he said he would "move heaven and earth" to try to open the upper site after half-term, on February 28.

The school is ensuring it has places in schools for children classed as vulnerable or whose parents have no childcare. It also wants to make sure all children have at least one week in school for face-to-face learning in the remaining two weeks before half-term.