STAFF and pupils from Magdalen College School said they have been overwhelmed by the support of the community after a fire gutted its drama building.

The school’s annual Arts Festival was put at risk after months of hard work were ruined when the building went up in flames on June 9.

Among the items destroyed were 400 individually-crafted postcards, which had been sent in by members of the community in the build-up to the festival.

The project was due to be a large-scale community art installation on the theme of Oxford’s roots/routes to be displayed at the festival’s annual pop-up exhibition, Magdalen Open.

Arts festival administrator Hannah Clark was devastated by the news, but decided to appeal for new postcards to be donated.

And the school received almost 200 in just three days.

Ms Clark said: “The response from the community has been wonderful.

“This was a community project we were running for just six months where we invited various members of the community, local schools, and care homes to produce a postcard that represented the heritage of Oxford or something in the city that meant something to them.

“We planned to make an exhibition in our festival hub, but then all 400 of them went up in flames.

“But after we made an appeal for some more, we have had almost 200 in three days which is absolutely wonderful.”

So far this year’s arts festival has proved to be a success, with many events staged and 1,500 people expected to watch a free outdoor screening tomorrow of Garsington Opera’s production of Cosi Fan Tutte.

Master of the school Dr Tim Hands had said earlier this month he hoped the cost of restoring the damaged buildings would be kept under six figures.

Registrar Sophie Langdale added the school hoped the damage would be rectified by the start of the next school year.

She added: “We have had an amazing response. There was one from a little girl which is really sweet. The festival is going really well.”

The cause of the fire is yet to be discovered, with arson not ruled out.