Back-to-school opening plans at Uppingham Community College may be affected by a "significant fire" at the school earlier today.

Headteacher Ben Solly posted on the school website that the fire took place in the early hours of this morning.

He said: "The three story block has sustained significant damage caused by the fire and smoke, alongside damage caused by water and other methods used by fire fighters to tackle the blaze. Thankfully no one was hurt.

"The full extent of the damage will be unknown until a full investigation can be completed.

"This is very upsetting news for everyone associated with UCC and is a significant setback towards our plans for the reopening of our school.

"The fire fighters were incredibly professional and efficient at tackling the fire and we will work with their investigation team over the coming days to assess the implications of this incident and how it will impact our reopening plans."

Mr Solly continued: "At this stage it is too early to speculate on how our plans will be affected, however when I have more information I will communicate with the whole school community as soon as I am able to.

"Our staff training days on Thursday and Friday may be affected by this, as may our phased reopening for students which was planned from 1st September."

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He said that the patience of parents and pupils is appreciated as the school works through such challenges and forges a new set of plans and arrangements for it to safely re-open as soon as poosible.

Mr Solly also praised site manager Stephen Berridge who responded instantly to the fire alarm and alerted the fire brigade, and site supervisor J Rootham.

The headteacher added: "Whilst this event is distressing for all involved, we are thankful that no one was hurt. Whatever challenges we face to repair the damage, we will collectively overcome them and get back to business as quickly as we can."

"I will send our further communications over the next few days as the situation develops."