SCHOOLCHILDREN across Oxfordshire could be taught in temporary classrooms and face delays to the start of the next term following the collapse of Carillion.

Building work remains incomplete at four schools – Matthew Arnold, Marcham Primary, Sutton Courtenay Primary and Chilton Primary – after the company, which carried out work in Oxfordshire County Council's property services, went bust in January.

The county council has now found contractors for all four projects but pupils could face disruption when they return in September.

Two temporary classrooms will be installed at Matthew Arnold School as the "shell of the new build" remains on site – although it could be completed by February.

Marcham Primary has asked for permission to use its Portakabin classrooms for an extra year and feared the project delays could cause "anxieties" among pupils as children in Year 5 would be split into two different forms.

A new classroom block at Sutton Courtenay Primary is expected to be finished in August but the majority of pupils will start school four days later than planned.

In March, pupils from Fir Tree Junior School in Wallingford presented a petition to county councillors pleading with them to sort out the building site their school was left in.

Other repairs to six adult day centres have also resumed as the county council prepares to move to phase four of its Carillion recovery plan – named Project Athens.

The council said it has already spent £1.7m – fixing problems with its buildings after work was left half-finished by Carillion, and also finding replacement contractors to continue the work.

Despite the progress, the "very significant" cost to the county is still unknown, and a handful of schools have had to take measures ahead of the next school year.

Matthew Arnold headteacher Katherine Ryan said the temporary classrooms were needed for the start of the next school year and hoped work on the delayed project would begin soon.

She said: "We are working with Oxfordshire County Council to ensure the building project resumes as soon as possible and, in the meantime, the council is installing mobile classrooms for September.

"We look forward to the opening of the new building during the coming school year."

A recent newsletter to parents revealed that the school hoped the new building would be ready by February next year to coincide with its 60th anniversary celebrations.

But two new classrooms at Sutton Courtenay Primary – initially promised for September 2017 – could be ready for the start of the new term after builders finally returned to the site earlier this month.

Headteacher Rachel Hornsey previously criticised the county council for being "frozen" following the collapse of Carillion.

She wrote in the Guardian in May: "The site is severely compromised, with the building compound and temporary classrooms taking almost half the play area.

"We cannot fit all the children outside at one time, so we have staggered breaks and stressful lunchtimes where half the children have to remain in the hall for far too long."

She recently wrote to parents telling them the building would be completed in late August but adding that term would start four days later than planned on September 10.

Due to a housing influx in the area Chilton Primary School increased its pupil intake from 30 to 45 starting in September 2016, but as part of this expansion three new classrooms were needed.

The project has planning permission but the school told parents "things had gone very quiet" in May, although it is still working on the basis that construction could begin in the summer.

Marcham Primary School, meanwhile, could be using its temporary classrooms for another year.

The county council's director of capital investment and delivery, Alexandra Bailey, said the total cost of the recovery was not yet known but that it was working to get "building work moving again."

She said: "The collapse of Carillion has created financial and legal difficulties related to our properties, which we are working through in detail.

"We don’t yet know what the total cost will be but I do know it will be very significant."

She added: "I know this uncertainty is having an impact on service users and staff who use our buildings and I am sorry about the disruption and uncertainty this has caused.

"Where we can get building work moving again we have, and our first priority is always to deal with health and safety issues."