Firefighters have raced to a village school in the nick of time to prevent it from being severely damaged by fire.

Two crews from Canterbury were called to Preston Primary School near Wingham at 9.25am this morning after a neighbour raised the alarm.

They found a timber framed porch at the back of the school well alight but managed to put it out before it could spread to the main building.

Crew manager Brian Deverill said: "It was fortunate that it happened when it did and was spotted very quickly by a neighbour.

"It meant we managed to get out there and deal with it before any serious damage was done to the school.

"If it had happened in the middle of the night and not seen and reported so quickly, it could have been a very different story."

Crew manager Deverill said the porch and its roof had been badly damaged and the cause of the fire was thought to be an electrical fault.