School starts today for hundreds of Hempstead students.

About 600 kindergarten and pre-K students will begin classes at St. Catherine of Sienna School in Franklin Square.

As News 12 has reported, the kids were supposed to go to the Prospect School, but the building was severely damaged by a lightning strike last month.

School officials tell News 12 they are please they were able to keep the students together.

Hempstead Schools Acting Superintendent Regina Armstrong says, “It's all of our kids under one roof and it gives us enough space to be able to run our full program and not miss anything. We wanted to make sure our kids had the same experience someplace else as they would at Prospect and this place will allow us to do that.”

Hempstead School District is leasing the former Catholic school that has 22 classrooms, a gym, play area and cafeteria for the entire school year.

The Prospect School is still heavily damaged and will not be repairs until March 2019.