STAFF at a primary school have been left frustrated as an extension is still a building site despite the county council claiming teachers could “acquaint themselves” with the new classrooms.

Last Tuesday, the Oxford Mail reported new classrooms were still being built at Windmill Primary School. in Margaret Road, Headington.

The work was expected to be finished by the last week of August, but the four new classrooms will not be ready now until September 19.

Oxfordshire County Council, which operates the school and took on the building work, said last week: “When staff at Windmill Primary School return from their summer break, they can focus on organising their classrooms into their preferred layout, and ICT will be added.

“Windmill Primary School was keen that staff had time to acquaint themselves with the new buildings and organise the layout of furnishings to suit their teaching needs.”

But the council statement caused more annoyance. Headteacher Lynn Knapp said: “The council spokeswoman was inferring that it was down to the teachers that pupils weren’t in the new classrooms.

“We haven’t been able to acquaint ourselves with the buildings, it’s still a building site.

“I’m not even allowed in the building yet because of health and safety.

“I just think it was a silly comment to make and it was inaccurate.”

According to Mrs Knapp and parents at the school, the new classroom does not yet have a roof, and the outside cladding has not been completed.

There is also extensive scaffolding around the building.

Father-of-three and Headington resident Mike Ratcliffe said there was a clear implication from the council’s comments that the building was finished.

Mr Ratcliffe’s nine-year-old daughter Helena is in Year Fivethe school, and was due to start this term in one of the new classrooms.

The 45-year-old added: “You can see from the school’s Facebook page that the parents were a bit miffed by the council’s response saying that the teachers needed time to acquaint themselves with the building. It’s just not ready.

“The school have dealt with the problem really well, with contingency plans put in place, so thankfully none of my kids had to stay at home.

“I think what we would like to hear is where the issues for the county council have been and what has happened to mean that the building is not ready on time.

“If you’re a project planner and you’re building a new classroom surely having the building ready a couple of weeks before the start of term, rather than a couple of weeks after would’ve been a better idea?”

County council spokeswoman Emily Reed said the school hall was ready for the first day of term and repeated the statement that the school was “keen that staff had time this week to acquaint themselves with the new buildings and organise the layout of furnishings and ICT to suit their teaching needs”.

She added: “This decision means that all works will be completed by Saturday, September 19, and pupils will use the new classrooms from Monday, September 21.”