A DATE has finally been set for the long-awaited rebuilding of Churchfields Junior School.

Reconstruction work will begin at the site in South Woodford on August 3, with pupils continuing to learn in the school's current run-down classrooms until the new facility is completed.

The £10million project, which was originally rubber-stamped in 2004 but was delayed due to rising building costs, is due to take about two years to complete.

It was given the green light after the council received a £3 million government grant to help plug the funding gap.

Parent Stephanie Klidaras helped lead the campaign to keep the rebuild project alive.

She said: "It's great, marvellous and very exciting.

"We should all have balloons and bubbly when it finally opens.

"It's nice to finally have some positive news so we can all stop moaning and hopefully the parking restrictions will stop all the lazy parents who insist on dropping their kids off right outside the school."

Fellow parent, Toby Walne, was less enthusiastic about the news.

He said: "I just hope we get the school the community deserves as the plans look like a shoe box.

"My worry is that they're doing it on the cheap and the existing school is so beautiful I just fear they're destroying 100 years of heritage.

"If they had acted quickly enough they could have restored it."

The final design has been significantly modified since the original plan was submitted.

Work will take place in three stages, with the teaching block and admin offices going up first, followed by the demolition of the existing building and external works.

During this time, the staff car park will be inaccessible and the Council is asking parents to avoid driving their children to school where possible.

Chief planning and resources officer John O'Keefe said: "We faced escalating building costs as the design was developed but at the same time the budget stayed the same.

"I don't believe we have compromised.

"It's still a £10m project which is a lot of money."

Mullaley builders in Woodford Avenue have won the contract for the work and the new school promises to be more bio-diverse, with many facilities open to the wider community.

Cabinet member for children's service, Cllr Gary Monro said: "I hope the residents understand there will be a small amount of disruption which we hope to minimise, but the end result will be a real asset both to the children who use the school and the people around it."