The 100-pupil school was gutted by fire as pupils headed for the start of a school day on April 19, 2006.

Fire crews battle to save the building but flames destroyed three out of five classrooms, the gym and assembly hall and a playroom. The library and a general purpose room were also badly hit and the remainder of the school was damaged by smoke.

An investigation later traced the cause of the blaze to a faulty fan heater and it was confirmed the school didn't have an emergency sprinkler system. As councillors pondered the future, 96 pupils were moved to spare capacity at St Margaret's RC in Hawick.

Councillors debated whether to build a complete new school or build-on to what could be salvaged of the 1953 building.

The salvage/build-on option was the cheaper, but asbestos and problems of meeting construction and environmental standards persuaded Scottish Borders Council to go for a new school on the old site.

Building work by Borders Construction of Carlisle started last summer and parents had been told the school would open to pupils after this summer's break.

But they have now been told the opening has been delayed by bad weather until after the autumn holidays in October.

A spokeswoman for SBC told TheSouthern: "All parents at both Denholm and St Margaret's were written to last week informing them of the delay – which is due to poor winter weather, even taking into account that the contractor did timetable for building over the winter and possible delays due to inclement weather were factored in.

"We continue to work well with our contractor Border Construction and are pleased with the teamwork approach. The early notification to parents of the decision to defer the opening will enable the school and community to work around this and enable the contractor to complete the building without compromising on the excellent quality of the new school."

Insurance cover became an issue for councillors following the blaze. In September 2006 education director Glenn Rodger confirmed the school had been covered by three insurance policies and that each carried a £50,000 excess.

The fire and its aftermath convinced councillors to examine the terms of its insurance and review fire safety across its schools.

Mr Rodger told councillors at that time: "Underwriters are looking for evidence that the council has learned lessons from this fire and that steps are being taken to minimise the risk of fire within schools."

The council spokeswoman told us this week: "The insurance claim was met in full – covering a number of elements – demolition and decontamination/design fees, decant/transport costs, while the school is at St Margaret's and a very large proportion of the new-build costs.