FURTHER building checks will be carried out before a crunch decision is made on whether Thornden School pupils can return to the fire-ravaged campus.

The school has been closed since a fire swept through six classrooms at the weekend.

Smoke damage was caused to an estimated 80 per cent of the rest of the building.

The estimated cost of the damage is expected to run to £1m.

Today the county council issued a fresh statement which said: "Temporary classrooms are being installed and services to the main buildings are being reconnected.

"The damage is quite extensive so this will take some while to sort out."

The spokesman added: "A meeting has been convened for Friday morning at which, following a further inspection of the accommodation, a decision will be made about the possibility of pupils returning on Monday.

"However the school will need to be confident that everything is working safely to allow this return."

Thornden has a school roll of 1,300 pupils and the county has said that GCSE students will be given priority when pupils start to return.

The blaze took 50 firefighters, from four areas, three hours to put out the blaze at the Winchester Road school.

Yesterday, members of Hampshire Fire Authority praised the firefighters for their swift action in preventing what could have been an even bigger disaster.

Chief Fire Officer Malcolm Eastwood, who attended the scene, also said: "Our personnel did an extremely good job in preventing the blaze from spreading to another block."

Two youths from Chandler's Ford, aged 16 and 17, have been charged with arson in connection with the blaze which broke out at midnight on Saturday.