PUPILS are still being taught in a temporary home - a year after their school was declared unsafe.

Their old building, Bolton Parish Church School, was closed suddenly after it was found to be in danger of slipping 30 ft into a river.

Now 12 months on and children are still being ferried to the former Longsight Primary School in Harwood.

And work has yet to start on their own school building in Kestor Street, Bolton.

The start of the school year for more than 100 children was delayed in 2004 after council bosses discovered the building was in danger of collapsing and pupils were rehoused at another school which had closed earlier that year.

It was hoped that children would be able to return to their own school at the start of this term. But no construction work has been started to tackle the subsidence or drainage problems which could lead to slippage of the playground into the River Tonge.

The cost of repair work, which could mean the demolition and rebuilding of the school, is estimated to cost between £350,000 to £450,000.

A Bolton Council spokesman said the delay in starting work at the school had been caused by the process of applying for a Department for Education and Skills grant to cover the cost of repairs.

The spokesman said: "The diocese has now submitted a bid and the outcome will be known in the next three or four weeks.

"The delay is not the fault of the diocese, it is because of the way the grant process operates."