Oundle School in Northamptonshire has issued pagers to several sixth-formers who have been trained by a member of staff who is also a retained firefighter.

The school, near Peterborough, has long offered weekly fire and rescue training sessions on its own fire engine as an alternative to cadet service.

However, bursar David Harris said: "Under no circumstances will a pupil or an employee be permitted to enter a burning building."

The school offers fire training to sixth-formers

He said if there was a fire at the school, the team would be restricted to using hoses from the outside, and would not be able to give the all-clear.

The student firefighters would only supplement usual procedures, such as evacuating buildings and calling the emergency services.

Mr Harris said although the school's nearest fire station was staffed by retained firefighters, there were fears they could be called away to tackle fires in Corby.

Oundle School has recently replaced its old fire engine with a newer model that had been used by a county brigade.

The school has 1050 pupils, most of whom are boarders.