Teachers have called for sprinkler systems to be made a legal requirement in schools.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers union (ATL) said the equipment was vital to reduce the impact of fires like the one experienced at Tideway School in Newhaven, which suffered an arson attack in 2005.

Speaking at ATL's annual conference in Bournemouth, general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said: "While the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) consults on whether to make sprinklers mandatory, our members' lives, and those of their pupils, are being put at risk."

The union said arson had been the cause of 52 per cent of school fires nationally in the past five years.

Dr Bousted said: "Fires can start anywhere and for many reasons, and ATL believes that a commitment to adequate funding is required to ensure that all teachers, lecturers, support staff and their pupils are protected against the danger and destruction caused by fire, irrespective of the school or college and area they work in the UK."

An £11million building project is planned this summer to fully replace the damaged facilities at Tideway. The school has had to operate in difficult circumstances since the blaze.