Early break for blaze school pupils

Fire investigators are trying to establish the cause

A school which was badly damaged by a fire will not reopen until August, education officials have announced.

The decision was taken after West Dunbartonshire Council officials visited Vale of Leven Academy in Alexandria.

Damage to the school is expected to cost millions of pounds to repair following the blaze in the school's annexe building.

Twenty eight classrooms were destroyed

Twenty eight classrooms, the library, computer suite, games hall and cafeteria were all destroyed by the fire, which was discovered at about 0040 BST on Saturday.

A spokeswoman for West Dunbartonshire Council said the school will stay closed until after the summer holidays.

However, she stressed that a number of school trips arranged for this week will still go ahead.

She said: "Classes will be suspended until after the summer break.

"The decision has been taken on health and safety grounds because we could not allow people near the site.

"However, the school trips to Germany, Alton Towers and the West Highland Way will still go ahead."

Police and fire officers have been trying to establish the cause of the blaze.

The main part of the school, which teaches 1,187 pupils, was built in the 1960s and the annexe was added in 1970.