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Shocked and upset children have been told they will be having weekly assemblies on the grass after an arsonist set fire to their school hall.
Maungawhau School principal Linley Bruce said pupils' faces fell when they arrived yesterday for their third day back at school and saw the main hall charred by flames.
"They were very shocked and upset. They sort of walked past it and their faces dropped [but] they've coped really well," she said.
Teachers at the Mt Eden primary school took children to the site of the blaze and explained no one had been hurt after the fire took hold early yesterday.
But school assemblies, indoor sports and after-school activities will have to go elsewhere as teachers wait for a repair job that could take between six months and a year.
"It's never quick fixing these things, unfortunately, so it is going to seriously disadvantage our kids," said Ms Bruce.
"It's an awful mess and obviously it's going to need a major makeover. Getting rid of the smell is going to be an interesting one."
The fire gutted a small room attached to the hall, went into the main hall's roof and burned a wall, but there was no major structural damage.
Fire safety officer Russell Dickson said if neighbours had not noticed the flames, the entire hall would have been gutted.
More than 60 firefighters in 14 trucks were sent to the school when the alarm was raised just before 2.30am.
Mr Dickson said there had been another, smaller fire at the school in December. The latest blaze, which Ms Bruce said might have started in a lost- property room, was deliberately lit.
"There's a certain amount of shock and anger," said Mr Dickson. "It's always disappointing when schools get attacked."
- NZPA
