A FIRE safety talk to youngsters was cancelled on Tuesday - after arsonists torched their school staff room.

It was the third suspicious fire at Hindley's All Saints' C E Primary School in three years.

Fire crews from the nearby Hindley station battled to stop flames spreading from the staff room to the rest of the school on Chapel Fields Lane at 2am.

Police are investigating the blaze. A spokesman for Leigh CID said: "We are treating this as a suspicious fire but are still investigating the cause at this stage."

Although the rest of the school was saved, fire chiefs advised staff to keep the 240 pupils at home because of the danger of toxic fumes.

Headteacher Mrs Carole Pearson said it was the third suspicious fire at the school in three years.

She said: "We are obviously very angry but thanks to the efforts of the nearby fire crew it is not as bad as it could have been.

"It seems who ever did this broke into the staff room, found there was nothing worth stealing and then set fire to the place in spite."

She said that, because the school had been targeted before, all equipment was safely locked away.

The fire safety talk by Greater Manchester Fire Service will be rearranged for another day.

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