THIS is the damage caused by a fire which caused more than £1m-worth of damage to a Hampshire school.

The massive clear-up operation at Thornden School in Chandler's Ford - which also suffered extensive smoke damage - is already under way.

education chiefs say it is clear that the campus will not be open to all of its 1,300 pupils until next week.

Meanwhile two youths have been charged in connection with the blaze, which wiped out six classrooms.

Eastleigh detectives have confirmed that a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old were last night charged with arson. The pair, who live in Chandler's Ford, will appear at Southampton Youth Court on Friday.

Education bosses plan to bring in temporary buildings to the campus to get some pupils back at school by the end of the week.

Hampshire County Council's executive councillor for education, Don Allen, said: "I was very dismayed to hear that a fire has destroyed a large part of Thornden School. This is a great shame and very upsetting for pupils and staff, as well as their families and the wider community.

"The fire has caused a huge disruption, destroying six classrooms and causing severe smoke damage to several more.

"It is clear that the whole school will not be open before the end of the week but we are working hard to try to get some pupils back to school as soon as we can this week.

"It is not yet known if any coursework has been damaged, but fortunately the school, in conjunction with examination boards, has procedures in place to ensure the evaluation of pupils' work will not suffer as a result of the fire."

He added that the county was working swiftly to have temporary classrooms in place and ready for use once the school had been made safe and the classrooms cleaned of smoke damage.

He said: "In this case the school buildings are self-insured by the county council, so this latest incident is not only going to disrupt the education of local children, it is estimated that it is also going to cost local council tax payers well over £1m to repair at a time when the government is cutting back on its grant to the county."