Floods struck St Richard Gwyn High School on the last day of term

Mike Clinch says while he hopes St Richard Gwyn High School in Barry will be ready, it is not definite.

Pupils were sent home early on the last day of term after several parts of the Vale of Glamorgan town were flooded.

Loss adjustors have been assessing the damage after 8in (20cm) of water and sewage swamped the building on Friday.

Mr Clinch said it was the fourth time in 10 years the school had been flooded.

"There is an awful lot of mess. We've employed a cleaning company," he said.

"It's throughout the whole of the ground floor of the school, so that's 12 classrooms, the gym, the hall, the kitchen."

He said the school administration offices had also been affected with some documentation lost, as well as computers, a photocopier and office furniture damaged.

There was some pupil work lost too but we are not in the main exam period which is the main thing Mike Clinch, head teacher

"There was some pupil work lost too but we are not in the main exam period which is the main thing," he said.

Some teachers at the school are spending some of their summer holidays helping, along with support staff.

"It's a double-edged sword - the staff who should be on their holidays are here but the children are not on site," he said.

"We hope the clean-up will be completed by September, but it is hope rather than definite because we have got to wait for it to dry out."

He said all the furniture in the classrooms and offices would have to be replaced as well as new floors.

"The whole school was totally redecorated a few years ago so we hadn't planned for it to be done again, but it will all have to be done," he said.

"We had sewage as well as water come in and the smell is atrocious," he added.

Mr Clinch said a flood which affected the school in 1999 "had a final bill running into six figures".

But he said he hoped this time it would be less, and that it should not affect the school's budget.