Work to repair an Aberdeenshire school which was badly smoke-damaged in a blaze will be carried out over the October holidays.
Youngsters at Laurencekirk Primary were given an early start to their break after the kitchen fire broke out on Monday.
Although the blaze was small, and firefighters managed to extinguish it within an hour, the building has been affected by smoke.
A spokesman for Aberdeenshire Council said “extensive efforts” to find somewhere else for the pupils to go had failed, and the school would not reopen until after the holidays.
He added: “All efforts will be undertaken to ensure the school is able to open as normal after the holiday period.
“We would like to apologise for the inconvenience this will cause for parents but the health and safety of pupils has to be our top priority.
“Aberdeenshire Council would also like to thank staff from all services, as well as the fire service, for all their hard work over the last few days in dealing with the incident.”
Three fire crews from Stonehaven, Inverbervie and Altens were called to the school at about 4.10pm on Monday.
Firefighters worked for more than an hour to extinguish the blaze before ventilating the building with fans.
No children were in the school at the time, and all staff were safely evacuated.