WORK has been taking place well into the night at a nursery which was forced to close after a fire at a former York school.

Arsonits broke into the former Manor School building, in Boroughbridge Road, and lit fires in first-floor classrooms in the early hours of Thursday last week.

Fire crews managed to put out the fire, but water damage caused by their efforts meant Muddy Boots Nursery – which operates on the school’s ground floor – was unable to open throughout last week.

Since then, the nursery has been operating out of the new Manor CE Academy, and work has been ongoing to restore the damaged site.

Andy Nimmo, who owns the nursery with his wife Anna, said: “We have been working up to about 10.30pm each night just to get the work done on the rooms.

“We have heating, hot water and electricity, everything’s been checked and serviced and we’ve got someone coming round to replenish the fire extinguishers and make sure they are up to scratch. There are a lot of things coming together.”

Andy said that as well as redecorating the water-damaged areas, he and other volunteers had made changes to areas they hadn’t used before, with donations of equipment from local supermarkets, families and other organisations.

He said: “We’re redecorating and renovating a new space which will be for the pre-school facility and doing up a garden area courtyard. Our aim is to get the nursery even better than it was before.

“We have had equipment including a slide and resources donated toys, tents and other resources were passed on, which will help fill the new spaces. It’s incredible, we’re overwhelmed with the generosity of the other community, families, parents and staff and all the other childcare providers and organisations.

“All our staff are focused on delivering care at the new Manor Academy at the moment so we really and truly wouldn’t have been able to do it without everyone lending a hand and getting involved. All being well, we’re hoping to be up and running in the old space by Monday, but better than ever.”

• Parents can check for updates on the progress on the Muddy Boots Nursery Facebook page.