Teachers issue appeal for help as they attempt to offer in-person lessons from March the ninth
Teachers hope to offer some form of face-to-face teaching at a different location from early next month
There's an appeal for items to help pupils at Okehampton's fire-damaged The Promise School after teachers revealed some had spent thousands buying equipment themselves.
Teachers have been hand-delivering equipment to some of the pupils with special educational needs in order that online lessons could begin on Wednesday.
It's hoped some form of temporary space could be offered for in-person lessons from March 9, with an announcement expected soon.
One teacher posted online: "As we prepare to move into temporary accommodation over the next week or two, we’re trying to replace some of the social and emotional learning resources that support our children day to day."
Suggested items include Lego, kinetic sand and board games like Monopoly, Scrabble and Uno.
The teacher added: "Many of us have lost thousands of pounds worth of personal classroom resources that we had bought ourselves over the years — from practical learning tools to soft furnishings like rugs and futons that helped create a warm, safe space for children who were struggling to regulate. Watching those safe spaces disappear in a day has been incredibly hard."
Doctor Victoria Bamsey, an expert in special needs and associate professor at the University of Plymouth, said: "These children all have quite significant special educational needs - that's why they were in a special school and special school places are under high demand so they're certainly not going to find places quickly for these children.
"If and when they do, no doubt, they will have to travel quite some distance.
"These are children who've been struggling with the special educational needs impacting on their social environment and their ability to make friends - put aside their special educational need and why they were put in the school in the first place, the act of moving them elsewhere will be traumatic for a number of those children."
Tiverton-based parent Kat Carthew's son Tommy has already had a teacher deliver equipment to him so he can study online - as his home system wasn't compatible with the school's.
Kat has praised teachers at The Promise saying: "They taught him how to read and write and they've made him thrive.
"He's a child that was refusing to go to school and he loves school now and he loves his teachers and he speaks really highly of his teachers."
When asked if she expects to find a new school, Kat said: "There won't be any alternative places we know that because of the lack of support and schooling for SEND children in Devon is non-existent. It's not plain-sailing when you've got a child with additional needs that can't cope in mainstream school.
"The fight to get a specialist provision is beyond anyone's comprehension, we battled for three years to get him a school."
She added: "The Promise School have let us know that they are trying to find space that they can carry on in-person learning so that our children have that routine and structure. It's hard as it's not as easy as finding a local hall and there's security aspects, there's safety aspects it's a lot to sort out. Bless the teachers."
This week Councillor Denise Bickley, the county council’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for services that support children with special educational needs and disabilities, said: “This has been a deeply upsetting incident for children, families and the whole school community, and our thoughts are with everyone affected.
“We recognise how unsettling it must feel to face this level of disruption so suddenly. The trust is leading the response, and we are working side by side with them to support the next steps and help ensure children can continue their education safely.”
Principal Quentin Gunderson said: "Staff are devastated. Many of our teachers have built up their own personal resources over years and years of their careers in education and some of those resources are really hard to replace.
"We are supporting staff, we have an employee assistance programme that we're signposting staff to.
"We've had great help from Devon educational psychology colleagues who've been on hand to support staff - and also we're having difficult conversations with children who've lost their own things in the fire , items that maybe were left in their classrooms and they won't see those things again."
Mr Gunderson says the long-term plan will be to rebuild the school, and when asked about the short-term he said: "We do feel that we are very close to being able to announce to people what the short-term plan is going to be.
"People have been working really hard. We've had tremendous offers from not just the Dartmoor multi-academy trust schools but the wider education community across Devon and beyond - who've come together and given us so much supoport and kind offers."
The Principal says they won't be able to take up all of the offers but hopes some form of in-person learning could begin on Monday March 9, with an announcement expected ahead of time.