Pupils at a Dublin school where fire destroyed a wing of classrooms won’t be back for the rest of the week, at least.

The fire, at Scoil Chaitríona, Mask Avenue, Coolock, caused serious damage in the senior girls-only school, and water and smoke damage to the co-ed junior school.

The junior school, catering for pupils from junior infants to first class, will remain closed until the end of the week to allow clean-up and repair operations, in the hope it will reopen on Monday.

Meanwhile, efforts are being made to secure alternative accommodation for the senior pupils after the upper floor of a classroom wing and a canteen was gutted, leading to the collapse of the roof.

A number of schools have offered classrooms to meet the immediate accommodation needs of the senior pupils, and these are being considered by the board of management.

Another option under consideration is the erection of prefabs on free space around the school.

The school authorities will meet today and will update parents.

Education Minister Joe McHugh visited the school yesterday to see for himself the impact of the fire and to speak to the principal and school management.

A senior Department of Education official liaised with the principal and school management during the day while a senior architect from the department was also at the school to assess the situation.

Mr McHugh said it was “a traumatic incident for all those connected to the school” and pledged to “stay with the school community during this and we will help them get through this”.

He said the immediate focus was getting the schools back in operation as early as possible next week. He said his department would provide every assistance, first with information on options for the school and then with a plan to get children back into school.

There was no question of the school having to make up the lost time, the department confirmed.

Six units of Dublin Fire Brigade fought the blaze, which broke out just before 6.30am yesterday. Fire engines from Tara Street, Donnybrook, North Strand and Kilbarrack were involved.

The fire was brought under control and prevented from spreading from the senior school to the junior school and there were no reports of injuries.

“We got a call just before 6.30am. There were three classrooms involved in the upper tier of the school,” said Dublin Fire Brigade incident commander Barbara Cahill.

“We were in attendance and started putting water on the fire. There was a problem with water so we asked the waterworks to increase the pressure, which they did,” she added. By 8am, the fire was under control.

There is no indication the fire was suspicious but gardai attended the scene as a matter of protocol.

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