Fire-ravaged Park Grove Primary School in York has begun its rise from the ashes.

About 16 months after the inferno which ripped through the Dudley Street-based primary school, the long-awaited £2.1 million pound refit got under way yesterday.

Demolition of some of the outbuildings of the school has now started, with the rebuilding work starting in earnest early next month.

The work will retain most of the original school building with its historic turrets and facade.

But it will also include a large extension with two new halls and a nursery.

One of the halls will be used as a dining room and for assemblies.

The other will be used as a gym and as a sports facility open to the wider community.

The "new" school will be completed next July and reopened in September, 1999. The designs were drawn up following an extensive consultation with parents, residents, staff and the City of York Council.

Park Grove School pupils have been taught at Queen Anne School since the blaze last February - the biggest in York since the Minster fire in 1984.

As revealed in the Evening Press, head teacher Andrew Calverley hopes to make the rebuilding process a learning opportunity for children.

Youngsters will learn how the plans will become a physical reality, and about the different trades and skills that will be used by workmen during the work.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.