A recent decision to scrap the requirement for water sprinklers to be fitted in new schools has met with a wave of criticism.

Experts say the move, announced by the Department for Education last week, could lead to more damaging fires in schools. Last month, a huge fire devastated The Academy, Selsey in West Sussex, displacing hundreds of pupils.

The policy of fitting fire sprinklers in all new schools was introduced in 2007 by then schools minister Lord Jim Knight, who is now chief education adviser at TES. Fire sprinklers can prevent, or at least limit, damage caused by fires.

The number of accidental and deliberate serious school fires in England decreased year-on-year from 2009-10 until a slight increase last year, according to government figures. In 2015-16, there were 650 school fires caused accidentally or deliberately, compared with 644 the previous year. The number of fire-related casualties also increased over the same period, from 23 to 26.

In Scotland, the number of school fires decreased from 226 in 2005-06 to 157 in 2014-15.