PEOPLE living near Cressex Community School were woken by the sound of flames crackling and windows breaking as its English block burnt down last night.

Arsonists are believed to have deliberately started a fire which destroyed classrooms in the building at the school in Holmer Lane, Cressex at around 2am this morning.

A second fire caused damage to a classroom on the Modern Languages department.

Both blocks stand separate from the main school building and other subject departments.

Alicia Morris called 999 after waking up and seeing the fire from her home in Challener Road, just metres from the English block at the edge of the campus.

The 23-year-old mum-of-two said: "I was in the upstairs bedroom when I heard something that woke me up. I looked out of the window and that's when I saw it totally in flames.

"After I called the fire brigade we watched it burning from the window. At first it progressed slowly then after about half and hour there was a bang and that's when all the windows blew out.

"Then it all just spread across the whole building.

"We opened the window for a minute and you could smell the burning.

"It was worrying for my children because it was so close to my house. We were thinking that if it spread to the science block there could substances in there that could cause explosions."

Another resident of Challener Road, a pensioner who asked not to be named, said: "I woke up at about 1.15am and heard a crackling noise and a lot of banging and crashing about. I couldn't understand where it was coming from - I thought it might just be the commotion of some people coming home from the pub.

"I looked out of the window and saw flames leaping into the air. I was worried about embers blowing across to my house and setting it on fire, but luckily the wind was blowing in the opposite direction last night.

"My wife and I were awake for a long time - we wanted to be sure that the wind didn't change."

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

Cressex Community School will not be open tomorrow when pupils were due to return to lessons after their half term holiday.