LAST month’s arson attempt at Caldicot School caused £5,000 worth of damage, Monmouthshire council said, as police continue to appeal for information.

Governors have now approved plans to install CCTV at the school following the fire, which happened on April 26 at around 8.20am.

The Argus previously reported how fire station manager Matt Jones, who was the commander for the incident, said it was “a clear act of arson” and the potential to have caused millions of pounds’ worth of damage was “extremely close”.

He said at the time of the incident that the swift action of attending fire crews extinguishing the fire prevented it from becoming a large incident. He added: “It’s rather disappointing, for the want of a better word, that an individual could do this.”

Nathan Small, business manager at Caldicot School, said: “It was quite a minor incident, the fire was in one room. We had to replace the broken window, replace a small carpet and paint the room because of the smoke.

“It has all been fixed now and the office has been back in use. There are fire alarms in that room.”

Peter Nurcombe, chairman of governors at Caldicot School, said: “There was small damage to the room. We’ve had a check-up by the fire service officer and everything seems to be fine.

“Any fire is a potential disaster so we were very lucky that it was contained to the small office. It was an unfortunate incident.”

He added: “The governors have approved plans to have CCTV installed to try to prevent incidents like this.”

A window of a ground-floor office was smashed in the incident and curtains set alight.

The fire service was alerted by staff arriving for work at Caldicot Leisure Centre who had seen smoke coming from the school.

A total of 16 firefighters from Chepstow and Caldicot attended the scene. The school was cordoned off and four fire engines and a water bowser were used.

The fire was contained to the office and put out by 8.40am.

No one was in the building at the time.

Anyone with any information about the incident should contact Gwent Police on 101 quoting log number 106.