BAFTA-winning actor and director Adam Deacon joined pupils to celebrate the official re-opening of their Hoxton school, which has risen from the ashes after being gutted by fire three years ago.

Parents, community members, elected Mayor Jules Pipe and the London Gospel Choir were also in attendance at the £9.4m school in Napier Grove which was built after a fire devastated the original Victorian building.

Kidulthood star Adam Deacon, who grew up in Stoke Newington, told pupils the importance of working hard at school.

“You can do anything you want to if you believe in yourself, and your amazing new school is going to help you to do that,” he said.

The assembly included a presentation by pupils on the life of Thomas Fairchild, a famous horticulturalist from Hoxton who died in 1729.

The state-of-the-art new school is spread over three floors and boasts top-of-the-range IT, food technology, science and art facilities.

Year six pupil Sarya Fidan said: “When I walk into school I feel proud of everyone in my school for coping so well in the hard times of the fire.

“Thomas Fairchild encourages us to reach the best of our potential in every way possible.”

Pupils were bussed out daily to two other sites while building work took place, and the new building opened its doors last September in time for the new term.

Associate head teacher Jenny Lewis, said: “After three years in temporary accommodation, the pupils, parents, teachers and staff of Thomas Fairchild deserve something special - this building is just that.

“Our aim for the new Thomas Fairchild is that it develops into a school at the heart of the community.

“We aim to drive up standards and remind our pupils that there is no limit to what can be achieved.”

One of the school’s key features is a café and community area on the ground floor which has been named ‘HeartSpace’, where parents and pupils meet every Friday to find out more about school life, how their children learn and to use the communal computer facilities.