Three months after a fire destroyed their school, students on the Eskinuopitijk First Nation will be heading back to class this week.

Unlike other schoolchildren, the 145 kindergarten to Grade 8 students in the community also known as Burnt Church had their original school destroyed by fire in June.

For at least this school year, they will be taught in a temporary location until a permanent replacement is built. The kids were supposed to return to class on Tuesday, but that was postponed until Friday as desks and chairs have not arrived at the temporary school.

The temporary school is in a pre-fabricated building across the street from the empty lot that once was home to their old school.

The June 11 fire not only gutted the school, but it also destroyed all the textbooks, desks and other resources.

Principal Robert Bowes said the community worked hard to find a solution so the children would not have to leave the area to attend school.

"I think what we need is some unity in the area and a safe place for the kids to come," he said.

"It's an objective of all of us to keep the kids here and to hopefully add more when the new school is done."

Bowes said he and the school's teachers understand how important a school is in allowing the children to identify with their community.

"We pay particular attention to that when we teach," he said.

"We have to talk about our local community and you can't talk about your local community if you're going to school somewhere else."

$10M replacement school

The fire came just a few months after Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl announced a new school for Eskinuopitijk.

Although construction is slated to begin on the new school next month, the $10-million structure won't be ready until next fall.

Until then, the children will have to deal with the small temporary school that doesn't have a gym or a library.

Simon Dedam, the school's education director, said the temporary school may not have all the normal amenities of a school but it will keep students together.

"It's just like this community, we're a close-knit community. We're all together. We're not scattered," Dedam said.

"That unity for us is a priority."

Police have charged a 29-year-old man in connection with the school's fire.

He is undergoing psychiatric assessments to determine if he is fit to stand trial.