A Kingston free school provider will spend an estimated £450,000 to bring a former NHS clinic into useable condition as a temporary school.

Kingston Community School is set to open at the former Acre Road Clinic this September – providing a refurbishment programme is completed by then.

The school, run by school provider Chapel St, this week posted online an open tender notice inviting companies to apply for the £450,000 building contract starting next month.

Work includes gutting the inside of the building, constructing new partitions, installing new finishes and reconfiguring mechanical and electrical installations.

The deadline for the repairs to be completed is Friday September 4 – just days before the primary school is due to open, and already three days later than most other schools in the borough.

Graeme Hodge, group development director of Chapel St, said: "We are excited about the first intake of students at Kingston Community School starting at our temporary site in September.

“We are committed to ensuring that the learning environment is absolutely safe and fit for purpose as we prepare for children to start their educational journey with us. The Education Funding Agency, who manage the refurbishment of our temporary site, have vast experience in developing school environments and in delivering these in plenty of time, and on budget, for opening day.

“We have every confidence in their ability to deliver and our collective project planning is on track to do this."

A Department for Education spokesman said: “Free schools play a vital role in ensuring all children can fulfil their potential.

“Many of them – like Kingston Community School – open on temporary sites. We are working closely with the school, which is on course to open as planned in September 2015.”

The opening of Kingston Community School’s permanent site of Kingstons House was pushed back for two years after it was decided the office block in Coombe Road, purchased by the Education Funding Agency for more than £8m, was not currently fit for purpose.

The tendering process is expected to be completed early next month with construction provisionally expected to start by June 15.

Sixty children starting from reception will be based at the two-storey Acre Road site, formerly a psychological therapy access centre empty since December 2014.

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