STANDING under the smoking carcass of Grenfell Tower, the children of Kensington Aldridge Academy look up at the building above them in fear.

They are reenacting a moment they will never forget - when they watched in horror as a catastrophic blaze tore through the tower block next to their school.

It might sound strange that they are reliving a horror they'd rather forget.

But for 13-year-old Maisie, whose family has lived in North Kensington for five generations, ignoring the tragedy’s existence seems pointless.

She has to see its plastic-covered carcass every day - she can't forget.

Along with two other students, Suyad and Yusra, she's created a dramatic re-enactment of the day of the fire, which they want to perform in front of the whole school.

Watching Maisie, Suyad and Yusra stagger in disbelief around an imaginary playground, their eyes turned fearfully upwards to the burning tower is one of the most emotionally powerful moments in new BBC documentary, The Choir, which airs tonight on BBC2.

'I worry it's too much'
On 14 June 2017, many of the students, aged between 11 and 18, watched in horror as a catastrophic blaze tore through Grenfell Tower next to their school.

For some, neighbours, friends and even relatives were trapped within. Of the 72 lives that were claimed by the disaster, five were students of the school.

For the next year, the academy’s £26m state-of-the-art building stood empty, while staff and pupils relocated to portacabins over a mile away.

With the tower’s remains still looming over the school playground, concerned parents questioned whether the academy could ever safely re-open.

Head teacher David Benson knew, even with the assurances of structural engineers, feelings would be mixed about a return to the old site.

So, ahead of the move back in the autumn of 2018, he drafted in the help of choirmaster Gareth Malone, to lead the school’s choir in a special 20-minute production to celebrate the history of the school, and the significance of their homecoming.

As Maisie and her friends perform for him in rehearsals, David cannot hide his emotion.

"It's really good, but I worry that it's too realistic," he says. " My worry is that we'll have people in the audience that will be really affected by this."

Later, speaking to camera, David admits he found it too much.

"I was thrown a little bit - I was affected watching it so I can't even imagine watching it if you're someone who had lost a friend or family member," he says.

"We need to be really careful because we have a duty of care."

'It's sad we had to do this in the first place'
The teachers decided to allow the trio to perform the play for the rest of their class and see how people react.

In highly emotional scenes, the girls perform their piece, and the classroom erupts in tears.

"It brought out tears in all of us," one student says. " If it did that to us it will do it to our parents - so I think we should do it. It's bringing out some of the tears - that is good."

The school decides to let the girls perform and rehearsals go into full swing.

Three weeks later, the trio take to the stage and perform their play in front of all their family and friends, and teary eyes fill the audience.

'The flames have gone but I'm still in pain'
Lyric, a 14-year-old student, also takes part in the show.

She says that song writing and theatre has been integral in helping her deal with the loss of her friends.

“Now the flames have gone away, I’m still in pain,” she sings in her self-penned ode, ‘One Year On’.

“It’s been a long year since I’ve seen you and I’m still in pain. And every single day I live with all this pain. It’s hard every day to walk past the school, always looking up remembering you.”

Behind her, best friend Olivia wipes away her tears. “I had no idea she’d even written that,” she chokes. “She’s been hiding it in her schoolbag.”

But despite the tears and the sadness, the kids fell some kind of relief after expressing themselves and telling their story.

After the sad reenactment, the students sing and dance to happy, upbeat songs.

Happy tears replace sad ones as the children say they finally feel ready to move on - though no one will ever forget.