ALTON police are appealing for witnesses following a fire at a school in the town which caused an estimated £100,000 of damage and could have proved disastrous.

But for the swift action of local residents in alerting Hampshire Fire and Rescue to the incident, pupils at Eggar's School may have had a longer holiday than planned.

As it happens, they will return to school this week with the best GCSE and Ofsted results under their belts and in the knowledge that their education will continue as normal.

In describing the fire, being treated as arson, as "a terrible shock", headteacher, Felicity Martin said that staff and pupils "will rise above it".

"It could have been a real tragedy but we can turn it into an opportunity for the school," she said.

Alton firefighters got a call to attend the blaze at Eggar's in London Road at 10-36 pm last Thursday, just hours after year 11 pupils had celebrated the collection of what turned out to be the school's best set of GCSE results on record.

According to a spokesperson, two appliances from Alton attended the fire which appears to have been deliberately started in rubbish bins standing in a covered walkway between two classrooms.

"We were concerned because the classrooms involved were used for design technology and contained acetylene cylinders at the back which could have gone up.

"There has recently been a lot of money spent on refurbishing Eggar's - they (staff and governors) were lucky they didn't lose it."

It took eight firefighters using breathing apparatus more than three hours to extinguish the fire with the crews finally pulling out at 1-45 am.

According to Mrs Martin, while there appears to be no real structural damage, one of the two classrooms involved has suffered extensive fire damage while the other has been rendered unusable through smoke and soot.

The smell of the fire has percolated throughout the school but this is being cleaned and the air purified by a team of professionals from Hampshire Property Services using specialist equipment.

Hampshire County Council, said Mrs Martin, had been extremely supportive and has given an assurance that the two classrooms will be refurbished, redecorated and re-equipped by half term.

In the meantime, the school is to receive two temporary classrooms which will require some adaptation for practical lessons but will ensure as little disruption as possible to the educational timetable.

Year seven pupils, she said, would be coming into school as planned yesterday (Thursday) with the rest returning on Monday, September 6.

Overjoyed by the GCSE and Ofsted results, Felicity Martin is determined not to allow the fire to dampen the spirits of a school which has been through a hard time but has worked hard to rebuild its reputation as a centre of educational excellence.

Despite the inconvenience, she said the school will benefit from the timely refurbishment of two old classrooms and the re-stocking with state-of-the-art equipment. But, she is troubled by an act of "malicious intention".

"It is a sad indictment on society when people have nothing better to do with their time than arson," she said.

Eggar's has not been the only school targeted in this way. According to the Hampshire Fire and Rescue spokesman arson is a county-wide problem - a school in Farnborough burned down last year and has since been closed, and there have been similar recent incidents in Basingstoke.

Tribute has been paid by the fire brigade to local residents who raised the alarm, among them Gill Jackson who said she spotted a small glow, along with some smoke, emanating from the covered walkway and immediately dialled 999.

Amazed at how quickly the fire took hold, Mrs Jackson was keen to point out that had the new sports hall already been built, her view would have been completely blocked and she would not have been able to see the fire.

Following the incident, Mrs Jackson is even more convinced that the proposed positioning of the new ICT suite and sports hall should be reversed. "At least then some people would be able to see the ICT suites at all times," she said.

That aside, the community and technical rire safety teams are expected to help Eggar's to take preventative measures in the future.

In the meantime, Alton CID is investigating the incident. Dc Dan Hope would like to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time and who may be able to help with the investigation.

He can be contacted on 0845 045 45 45 or alternatively calls can be made to the anonymous Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111.