By FIONA PARKER for the Daily Mail
An academy that was forced to close after the Grenfell fire has been rebuilt on a temporary site in just nine weeks.
Up until June, Kensington Aldridge academy (KAA) was a £26m secondary school complete with state-of-the-art facilities.
But its 960 pupils were barred from the building, at the foot of Grenfell Tower, when the devastating blaze tore through the tower block on June 14.
However, thanks to the hard efforts of more than 200 workers, a temporary school opened its doors on September 18 – ready for the new academic year.
The new school, known as KAA2, is located just over a mile away in the neighbouring borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.
Workers from Portakabin and the construction firm Mace worked from dawn until dusk to ensure the building would be ready for the new term, the Guardian reported.
Consisting of several temporary cabins, the new school, which is not far from Wormwood Scrubs prison, may not look like the average modern day academy.
Nevertheless the pupils have the use of eight science labs, two design and technology workshops, two music rooms, two IT suites, two libraries and even a dance studio.
Five KAA pupils died in the fire, and therapy and in-house councillors are available to pupils who need them.
Meanwhile the original building remains empty – despite escaping serious damage in the fire, it has remained out of bounds ever since.
David Benson, KAA’s principal, told the Guardian: ‘It fully replicates the curriculum structure of the original school.
‘We made a commitment to parents and students about the courses we were going to offer and the quality of the teaching, and we’ve honoured the commitment.’ He added: ‘The overwhelming majority of kids were happy to come back to school after the summer.
‘They were optimistic about the year ahead. They were not talking about the fire.’
The tower is expected to be finally covered and the area made safe by March next year.
However pupils will not return to the original KAA until next September.