A secondary school that was seriously damaged in an arson attack will receive £10 million to rebuild it.

Work on Tideway School in Newhaven is due to start towards the end of the summer and is expected to last two years.

East Sussex County Council cabinet members agreed to the spending, saying it was the best way of rebuilding the school.

An officer's report said: "Tideway is a top priority.

"It is proposed to increase the existing pre-fire capital provision from £1.9 million to £10 million.

"This will allow the most effective scheme to be developed on this site following the disastrous fire, which took 60 per cent of the buildings out of use."

The Government has refused to provide any special funding for the rebuilding but the county council is expecting to recover some of the cost of the rebuild from an eventual insurance settlement.

Fire raged through the school in April last year. More than 70 firefighters battled the blaze at the 900-pupil school.

A 16-year-old was later accused of starting the fire but was cleared after a trial at Lewes Crown Court last September.

Since the fire, the school has been housed in scattered blocks that survived undamaged and mobile classrooms.