Pupil in court after fire damages classrooms

Parents pay $3985 a term for senior students at Kristin School. Photo / Supplied

A student at a top private school has been charged with arson after a fire that damaged two classrooms.

The teenager was one of a group of current and former students gathered at Kristin School on the North Shore one Saturday night last month before a fire broke out.

According to Kristin's website, it costs $3985 a term for senior students to attend the school, which has its own hockey turf, theatre and auditorium.

Blake Norcross, 17, appeared in the North Shore District Court on October 23 on the arson charge and was granted bail to re-appear next week. He did not enter a plea or seek name suppression.

Kristin's executive principal, Peter Clague, said three male students faced disciplinary action and chose to leave before they were expelled or withdrawn.

The school had carried out its own investigation into the fire, he said.

"The fact is that they were on-site trespassing and they shouldn't have been here."

He did not believe the students intended to set fire to the classrooms, but said "they foolishly lit a few things and it got out of control".

Mr Clague said the incident was embarrassing and sad for the school, "but I take some heart from the fact that there was no malice".

Firefighters were called to Kristin School about 4.15am on October 11 and found two rooms alight.

North Shore fire safety officer Gary Beer said the blaze appeared to have started in a couple of rubbish bins.

'There were certainly suspicious circumstances, so police were informed and took over the investigation," he said.

Four fire trucks and 16 firefighters worked to extinguish the flames, which caused significant structural and smoke damage two days before students were due back from holidays.

Some school books were salvaged, but most of the pupils' work and stationery was destroyed.

Mr Clague said the fire was "devastating" for the Year 5 pupils who lost their classrooms.

"They are little kids and they don't understand why something like that would happen."

Detective Senior Sergeant Kim Libby said inquiries were continuing and North Shore police were speaking to another youth about the fire.