Parents of students at a Warwick middle school have been given an assurance that refurbishment work will be finished in time for the start of the new September term.

Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott said "to all intents and purposes" the major upgrade on Spice Valley Middle School would be completed by the time students were ready to return to their classrooms after the summer break.

He said despite delays caused by the bankruptcy of general contractor BermudaTech Construction earlier this year, the Ministry had been able to retain many of the sub-contractors and push ahead with the redevelopment almost on schedule.

He said while some minor work may still need to be done in a couple of areas, most of the classrooms will be ready for occupation.

His comments will be welcome news for parents, teachers and students at the school who last year had a two-week delay in beginning the September term after building work in the long-term development overran.

Mr. Scott said: "To all intents and purposes, while we still have some cabinet work to be done, the work will be completed to the satisfaction of the client, the Education Ministry, and they will be able to open on time and as promised.

"Only one or two classrooms will not be ready but we have generated new classrooms so the teachers say there will not be a problem and they will have sufficient space. The students won't be inconvenienced.

"There will be some cabinet work done after school resumes, just the finishing touches and the like but teachers will have sufficient time to set up. They will be able to get in on time and prepare their respective classrooms well before."

Mr. Scott said the workmen were "still desperately pushing the clock" to get the finishing details completed but said once this particular phase was finished, Spice Valley would be totally refurbished.

He added: "This will be the completion of this entire exercise. Once we have finished the details, we are finished with Spice Valley, which is good news."