A MAJOR fire which has led to two Bradford primary schools being temporarily closed is being treated as arson.

Investigators have found that the blaze at St Cuthbert and The First Martyrs' RC Primary School in Scotchman Road, Manningham, was started in a store cupboard before it ripped through classrooms on Wednesday afternoon forcing the school's 210 pupils and 36 staff to be evacuated.

The blaze also led to the evacuation and closure of a neighbouring school - Lister Primary School, which suffered heavy smoke damage.

It is hoped both schools will re-open on Monday although the fire has already led to the postponement of a 50th anniversary celebrations at St Cuthbert due to take place today to mark the laying of the school's foundation stone in 1966.

The cost of the damage at both schools is still being being assessed but many classes at St Cuthbert will have to be taught in portable classrooms until the building is fully repaired.

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A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police told the Telegraph & Argus officers were treating the cause of the fire as an arson and an investigation was continuing.

He confirmed that the source of it had been traced to a store cupboard.

Yesterday, Year Six pupils at both schools had to sit their final SATs exams in alternate locations - St Cuthbert's pupils sat the tests in the neighbouring church hall while the Lister Primary School pupils went to nearby Margaret McMillan Primary School.

The alarm was raised when the fire was discovered in a Year Six classroom at 2.46pm when the majority of pupils were in the playground.

An evacuation took place, and at its height there were seven fire engines from across the district dealing with the blaze.

Daniel Copley, executive head teacher at St Cuthbert, said: "It was the Key Stage 2 block that was affected and as far as we are aware, two classrooms were damaged. I can't say anything further until the assessments teams have examined the extent of the damage.

"Evacuation was our key priority yesterday to keep all the children and staff safe.

"We cannot speculate as to the cause of the fire and will of course support the fire service with their investigation."

The school's head teacher, Rachel Winnery, sat in the SATs with the Year Six pupils yesterday and praised how they have handled the disruption.

She said: "They have been real troopers, they've done really well considering. We are hoping we will be open again on Monday.

"It has been necessary for us to postpone our 50th anniversary celebrations, but they will go ahead at some point, even bigger and better than originally planned."

Earlier in the week pupils had been learning about the school's history and thinking of items to put in a time capsule to mark the anniversary.

Today's planned event was to include a school-wide celebration and mark the beginning of celebrations to mark the jubilee.

Some of the firefighters who tackled the blaze had raced to the scene from a visit to another school, St Francis Catholic Primary, where they were giving pupils a talk about fire safety talk.

Andy Meehan, business manager at Lister Primary School yesterday said: "The school has been closed due to smoke damage and the subsequent cleaning that was needed."

A Bradford Council spokesman, said: “Our building control and safety officers have met the insurers and officers from the diocese and they have been given the go-ahead for the clean-up to begin.

“The clean-up has now started and our staff will be working throughout the weekend to deep clean the whole school.

“Temporary classrooms and classroom furniture are being arranged and the damaged area will be sealed off so that the rest of the school can function and necessary repairs can be made.

“Lister Primary School will also be deep cleaned and will be reopening on Monday.”