The Government is under growing pressure to make school sprinkler systems compulsory as figures revealed there have been hundreds of blazes at Sussex schools over the past decade.

Figures published by the Department for Communities and Local Government show that between 1995 and 2004, firefighters attended 168 school fires in East Sussex and 206 in West Sussex.

In 2005, vandals torched Tideway School in Newhaven, causing £11 million damage to the main hall, library, drama room, staff room and classrooms.

Pupils are still making do without some of the facilities lost in the blaze.

East Sussex County Council later admitted none of the county's schools was fitted with sprinkler systems.

In a bid to boost safety, a committee of MPs has urged the Government to require all new and refurbished schools to be fitted with sprinklers rather than leaving it as a matter of local discretion.

In a report on the fire and rescue services, the Commons Communities and Local Government Committee called on ministers to issue guidance requiring sprinkler systems to be fitted "in all cases, not just those where there is particularly high risk".

It argued: "The potential lifesaving benefits far outweigh the cost of fitting sprinkler systems."

In written evidence to the committee, the Chief Fire Officers' Association warned: "The likelihood of school fires remains very high due to a combination of social factors. The potential consequences of such fires are disastrous."

The MPs' report was welcomed by Adrian Money, headteacher of Tideway School.

Mr Money told The Argus: "It would be a great idea. I'm 100 per cent behind it."

He said a sprinkler system would have prevented the fire ripping through the school in Southdown Road in the early hours of April 5, 2005. More than 70 firefighters from across the county tackled the blaze. No one has yet been convicted of starting it.

Work on rebuilding Tideway, a specialist technology college which teaches 700 children aged 11 to 16, is set to begin at Christmas with the new buildings opening by 2009.

The Department for Education and Skills said the Government would respond to the MPs' report in due course.

A spokesman said: "Our primary concern is the safety of pupils and teachers.

"Local authorities have a clear responsibility to carry out risk assessments to determine what sort of fire detection and alarm systems should be used in all schools and whether or not sprinklers should be installed."