Rebuilt fire school opens doors

The new school is packed with safety features

Pupils at a Derby school have returned to new classrooms almost two and a half years after it was damaged in a fire.

Sinfin Community School has been rebuilt at a cost of almost £21m after it was destroyed by a mystery fire which started in a storeroom.

Since the blaze more than 900 students have been taught in temporary cabins and surviving sections of the school.

Children have spent the past two days getting tours of the building and its state-of-the-art facilities.

The new classrooms have been fitted with cameras, smoke sensors, sprinklers and fire alarms.

Unisex toilets

The school can generate some of its own power with a wind turbine and has other sustainable features including a bio-mass boiler and water recycling.

Another unusual feature is the unisex toilets which are designed to inhibit bullying.

Head teacher Steve Monks said this is just the start of a brighter future.

"There is a large part of me that says it is a tragedy that schools have to be burned down to be replaced but it is an irony that it took a fire to create a school that is fit for purpose.

"We said from the outset that a warm, attractive, endearing building is a good start but it is not the finishing point ."