A Teddington primary school has been branded a "complete shambles" for not having renovation works complete in time for students to begin their autumn term.

Harriet Filmer, 46, from Twickenham was ‘shellshocked’ when she received a letter from Stanley Primary School, in Strathmore Road, explaining that there would be ‘temporary classrooms’ in place when her children began school on September 6.

The school, which scored ‘requires improvement’ in an Ofsted inspection in December 2016, informed parents that ‘immediate extensive remedial work is needed’ to the roof on the year five and six block after work throughout the summer was ‘worse than originally thought’.

Mrs Filmer, who has a daughter going into year six, said: “We got the letter via parent mail five days before the children were going back to school.

“It is ridiculous and unacceptable and a complete surprise.

“This is all we know at the moment and we have had no opportunity to ask questions before they went back but as far as the school goes they have a plan hatched with the local authority.”

The letter from the headmaster, Ian Dickinson, detailed that the roof ‘needs to be propped and supported from below with scaffolding towers erected within the year six area’ and consequently ‘alternate classrooms for year six children’ would be provided for the duration of the work which is expected to take ‘eight months to complete’.

Mrs Filmer added: “There has to be a better solution though that this - the school have already had all sorts of issues when carrying out previous renovation works.

“At one stage not all the kids could play on the same day on the field because it wasn’t big enough and each class had a field day.

“They are proposing eight months but we all know building work goes on for longer – it is likely to be the entire school year at this rate.”

After the school met with the local council ‘high quality accommodation’ was secured and the children are to be taught in a ‘four-classroom block’ in the current staff car park - expected to be in place from September 18.

Until then the children will be merged from ‘four morning classes into two larger groups’ in the ‘temporary classrooms in the hall and gym’ taught by two teacher each who will be supported by the year group teaching assistants.

Mrs Filmore said: “There have just been seven weeks of holiday how are there no classrooms for these years.

“You can’t blame me for thinking the temporary classrooms will not just be for two weeks - it is not good and it is unacceptable.”

The letter also stated changes to school teaching curriculum for the first three days of term for the year six students.

“For the first three days of term we have commissioned a company to provide a number of cross curricular activities to support the projects taught in year 6, these will be exciting and engaging activities to start the new year for the children. From Monday 11th September the children will be following the year 6 curriculum as planned.”

Mrs Filmer said: “Also why is it the year six being affected – this is such an important year for them with SATs etc why can’t they do some adjustments and use the temporary classrooms for younger years who mostly play anyway.

“The first week will be an absolute nightmare I think.”

The entire school has ultimately been affected as the hall space is out of operation for the other years and only a ‘packed lunch option for school meals’ being available.

Cllr Susan Chappell, Richmond Council cabinet member for children’s services and schools, said: “I know that this will be deeply frustrating to the children, their parents and school staff who have had to cope with the long term building works at Stanley.

“We were all hoping that the recent works would see a successful conclusion to the development. I am very sorry that this isn’t the case and they face a further disruption. I share their frustration.

“As part of our Primary School expansion programme, the council has contracted expert, qualified, builders to expand a large number of our schools. In all our developments, we work with contractors to mitigate any issues that arise throughout the process. It was not possible for the Stanley School development.

“In this case it appears that the works have not been delivered to the high standards that we require. As such the Council is investigating and pursuing all legal recourse available. The full extent of the problems with the roofs only became apparent when our new contractors removed the roof of one of the buildings last week.

Parents were informed via the letter that they can attend a meeting on September 12 with the headteacher, members of the senior leadership team and a council member to discuss any questions.

Cllr Chappell added: “The most important, immediate action is to ensure that our children receive quality education in a safe and suitable environment. Whilst the repair work takes place, we have suggested a number of temporary options to the school. We are now working with them to temporarily adapt their school halls to create four classrooms whilst ‘demountable’ classrooms are installed on the site.

“Over the next few weeks I will be working closely with the Headteacher, Chairman of Governors and the staff of the classes impacted. I will be looking at what additional support we can give Stanley, its staff and students.”

The renovation problems come shortly after another Ofsted inspection as required by the Education Act 2005 in June to monitor the actions being taken to improve the school after it scored ‘requires improvement’ in three of the five categories in its statutory inspection in 2016.

The original report outlined key aspects which need to be addressed including “Leaders have not responded effectively to pupils’ underachievement in recent years”, “The differences in outcomes between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils persist” and “The quality of teaching requires improvement as teachers do not give all pupils sufficiently challenging work to enable them to achieve their best”.

After the results were published, Jo Merritt, the chair of governors and the headmaster contacted parents explaining they were ‘disappointed that the timing of the inspection did not allow the inspectors to judge the impact of the improvement strategies already in place’.

The letter sent out also emphasised the positive feedback from the report such as ‘Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is incorporated into all aspects of school life’, ‘Children quickly gain in confidence and independence because of the safe, caring and stimulating environment in the early years’ and ‘parents appreciate their close communications with teachers.