Primary school is gutted by blaze

A major fire has severely damaged a primary school in Oxfordshire.

More than a third of the Marsh Baldon primary school near Nuneham Courtney was badly damaged in the blaze, which began early on Thursday morning.

The cause of the fire is not yet known, but there had been electrical problems due to building work.

The school, which has 62 pupils, will be closed for at least two days. Governors have begun looking for an alternative site for some pupils.

"The older part of the school which fronts onto the green - which is from about the 1880s - has been gutted," said Alison Barn, the chair of the school's governors.

"It's as if part of the heart of the village has been ripped out."