EDUCATION chiefs will today decide when to reopen a school which was badly damaged by floods.

Carterton Community College headteacher Julie Tridgell is to meet Oxfordshire County Council education chiefs and maintenance officers at the school to decide whether to delay the start of the new school term.

The college was the county's worst-hit school when a torrential downpour caused floods across Oxfordshire in late July.

Builders have been working around the clock to replace flooring which was destroyed when the deluge hit the school in Upavon Way.

But a large part of the school is still unusuable - and the meeting has been scheduled to decide when the school will reopen its gates to its 760 pupils.

Michael Waine, county council cabinet member for schools improvement, said he understood that the opening may be delayed by one or two days to enable the school to get everything in order.

Most schools will reopen in the week starting Monday, September 3 - but Mr Waine said the college's headteacher had mentioned Monday, September 10 as a possible date when he visited the school on Friday.

He said: "In all, 25 schools in Oxfordshire were affected in one way or another by the flooding.

"Some were minor but certainly at the other extreme Carterton Community College suffered major damage. It was by far the worst-hit school.

"It is getting on towards £300,000 worth of damage. The overall bill including loss of supplies and materials will probably take it over £300,000."

A sports hall, gymnasium, drama room and music room were all flooded when the water struck the secondary school on Friday, July 20.

They remain unusuable and a dining hall, corridor areas and staff work rooms are also out of action.

All pupils were sent home on the day of the flooding and the school remained closed for the last three days of the summer term.

Ms Tridgell said: "It was an absolute nightmare. The volume of water that came into the school was staggering given the fact that we are nowhere near a river.

"It came in through the back of the school. It was the run-off from a nearby housing estate. The drains could not cope."

Mr Waine said: "You walk into the front of the school and you would never know anything had happened. But at the back of the school all of the floors have been stripped and there are dryers still at work in some rooms."

He added the Government had promised some money towards the repair bill but the county council would be seeking more funds from the European Union.

The school was hoping for an Indian summer so that sports classes could be taken outside until all of the repairs were completed in late September, he said.