A crossing for children at the new Coombe Wood School will not be completed in time for September.

The school in Melville Avenue opened in September 2018 and is currently based in temporary buildings while a permanent building is completed.

Next month it will welcome the second batch of Year 7 pupils bringing the total up to 360 children.

To accommodate them more temporary buildings will be put up and the school is expected to move into its permanent building in September 2020.

Some neighbours have raised concerns that there are no crossings for children to get to school safely, although a crossing point was not a condition of the temporary planning permission.

And this week a letter from Cushman and Wakefield on behalf of the Department for Education confirmed that a toucan crossing would not be in place until 2020.

The letter submitted to Croydon Council on August 13, said: “The completion of the proposed highway design, encompassing both the proposed Toucan crossing and road widening elsewhere on the network, are still some way from agreement.

“Therefore despite our best efforts, these works will not be available to support the proposed temporary accommodation over the next

school year although they will be completed to support the main school’s opening in September 2020.”

But part of the temporary permission includes a one-way system which prevents cars turning into Melville Avenue from Coombe Road.

And pupils will continue to use the current route from the Lloyd Park tram stop and the existing pelican crossing, followed by the southern footpath on Coombe Road, crossing Melville Avenue via the zebra crossing and entering the school at the pedestrian access point.

School staff in high visibility vests will continue to supervise the school site at the start and end of the school day.

Coombe Wood School is run by the Folio Education Trust which was founded in 2016 and includes Wallington Grammar School, St Peter’s Primary School and Park Hill Junior School.

At a Croydon Council meeting back in April, Jonathan Wilden, CEO of the Folio Trust, said that he hoped the toucan crossing would be completed by September 20.

Councillors on the planning committee, including Gareth Streeter, Jason Perry and Joy Prince also raised concerns with the safety of children coming to and from school.