8 Jun 2010

Fire clean-up keeps Kerikeri High School closed

8:27 am on 8 June 2010

Sunday's fire at Kerikeri High School will keep the school closed for the next two days.

Principal Elizabeth Forgie says a physics classroom has been destroyed and three other rooms are likely to be condemned and demolished.

Police say a fire was lit deliberately beneath benches outside a classroom early on Sunday morning. They are examining footage from the school's security cameras.

Ms Forgie says the clean-up involves removing chemical residues from the destroyed science lab and fixing electricity and water supplies, but a new timetable will be drawn up and all 1400 pupils should be ready to return to school on Thursday morning.