Express & Star

Walsall school open as usual despite severe fire

A school principal today spoke of his shock after the site's sports hall was damaged by fire - and said staff were determined to get the facility back in use as soon as possible.

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The blaze in the storage area in the hall did not spread to the rest of the Mirus Academy - and principal Dan Neal said he was relieved the school could stay open as usual.

He said: "The damage is fairly severe but thankfully it is isolated and does not affect the other parts of the building.

"I got a call in the early hours of the morning but my immediate reaction was to make sure that the students are not affected and to make sure we could carry on.

"When I first heard there was fire I thought the worst as we have all the new parts of the building that are being built."

Premises supervisor Steve Chapman in the fire-damaged sports hall at the Mirus Academy.
Premises supervisor Steve Chapman surveys the damage in the sports hall.

Equipment including football goalposts and netball hoops have been ruined. The cost of the damage is not yet known but Mr Neal said he was determined to get back up and running as soon as possible.

He said it not known exactly how the fire started - but an electrical fault is to blame.

He added: "We don't know where the electrical fault was yet - we have had all the necessary safety tests so we don't know what it could be.

The fire damage in the sports hall.

"It's unusual for something like this to happen at a weekend - it could have been a fault in equipment or wiring but we just don't know."

The school received funding to allow it to carry out some construction and revamp work on some of the buildings that are now over 50 years old and in desperate need of modernisation.

The present sixth form centre is being transformed into an English and humanities block, the dining facilities will be upgraded and a new IT and sports centre will be fully refurbished, along with the revamp of a Specialist Learning Centre.

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