More than 500 pupils and staff have returned to school after being evacuated from Cromer Academy when a fire broke out in the sports hall.

Emergency services raced to the scene after the alarm was raised shortly after midday.

Three crews - two from Cromer and one from Sheringham - arrived at the Norwich Road school to tackle the fire, which is believed to have started in wall insulation.

A crew member at the scene said it was a small fire and added that everybody had been accounted for.

The fire broke out in an area of the school where work is ongoing to replace sections of the roof to improve conditions for students.

However, it is understood there is no lasting damage.

A spokesman for the school said: 'A very small amount of the old insulation material caught fire during the work to replace the roofing, and so the school was evacuated as a precaution.

'The old, damaged, material has already been removed and so there will be no lasting impact for the school - other than the new roofing when the work completes.

'Quite by chance the Academy had been practising fire drills earlier this week, so the process went extremely smoothly.' And he added: 'The fire evacuation procedures all worked to plan.

'All pupils and staff are safe and the school is back to normal.'