CHILDREN forced out of their school for emergency roof repairs are still not back in their classrooms nearly four months after the problem was discovered.

Leaders at Wootton-by-Woodstock Primary School, in Church Street, originally anticipated the school would close for eight weeks with children temporarily housed in unused classrooms at nearby Marlborough School, Woodstock.

The school closed on March 4 after a crack appeared in one of the beams holding up the roof above the infants’ classroom.

But work has yet to start and children have now been moved into temporary buildings on the playing field at the other side of the village until the end of term.

Chairman of governors Jonathan Reynolds said: “We are very disappointed the work is taking a lot longer than expected and hasn’t started yet.

“Part of the challenge was to diagnose what the process was.

“In addition to the sheer complexity of the construction work, the diocese has to find funding for all the relocation costs as well as the building costs and that has been a time-consuming job.”

He estimated the project, including relocation costs, would cost in the region of £250,000.

The Diocese of Oxford, which runs the Church of England school, is in charge of repairing the Grade II-listed building and has employed contractors Carillion to carry out the works.

Mr Reynolds said: “The prime objective is to ensure disruption for the children is kept to a minimum.

“It has been quite stressful but the staff have really risen to the challenge.”

There is no internet access in the temporary buildings.

To add to pressures on the school, Ofsted rang on the day the school was evacuated, and although the inspection was postponed, the visit took place in April in the two temporary buildings.

The school was judged to require improvement and told there was not enough consistently good or better teaching.

Mr Reynolds said: “We could have been in a better situation for that to have taken place.

“The inspector found a lot of good points but focused particularly on the amount of progress being made by children between Key Stage 1 and 2.

“We had an issue with maths in terms of a small cohort of four children last year who failed to make the progress, but that’s something we had identified anyway.”

A meeting was held on Wednesday with the school and Carillion.

Jane Smith, of Carillion said: “We have been working closely with the school to decide what work needs to take place. We have now come to an agreement on that.”

Diocese of Oxford spokesman Jo Duckles said: “This has certainly taken longer than we would have expected.

“The consultant had to consult with a conservation officer and a number of other bodies to ensure that the work is carried out correctly on this Grade II-listed building. We are hopeful pupils will move back into their school when the new term starts in September.”