PUPILS in Winchester yesterday returned to their arson-struck school for the first time since it was attacked at the weekend.

The 300 youngsters who attend Oliver's Battery Primary School were not in class on Monday because of a staff training day.

Education bosses have been left with a bill of £40,000 to cover the cleaning, repairs and replacing damaged equipment.

Firefighters reacted quickly to prevent the fire spreading at the school on Friday night.

The kitchen and one classroom were badly damaged, the school was smoke-logged and the shed where the fire is believed to have started was destroyed.

Police believe a wheelie bin was pushed against a shed near the school kitchen and set alight.

The shed contained school equipment, including a public address system, chairs and a collection of toys for a sale.

Two classrooms that were smoke-logged were back in operation and an assembly was held to explain to the children what had happened.

The county council says structural engineers will visit the school to assess the damage this week and the cleaning will be completed by Friday.

Head teacher Kate Utting said: "I cannot praise Property Services or my site manager, Adrian Boiles, enough for the work they have done.

"The children would not have known the fire happened apart from the smell. People have worked around the clock to get us up and running again.

"The things we could do with £40,000. And the frustration is we have worked very hard at the school to improve the learning environment.

"When you see the damage done it is just putting everything back a step."

Police are appealing for witnesses to the fire and urge anyone who was in the area on Friday night to contact them as soon as possible.

Anyone with information should contact Winchester Police on 0845 045 4545 or the anonymous Crimestoppers Line on 0800 555 111.