London: A Sikh school in Britain has reassured its students and their parents that its premises are completely safe after it was claimed that the school was constructed on contaminated soil, media reported on Monday. Diggers at free school, Khalsa Secondary School in Stoke Poges in southeast Britain, were reportedly found to be taking up turf of contaminated soil during a re-development work in the premises, the Trinity Mirror reported Monday.

It has been claimed by the nearby local village residents that the site is a possible threat to pupils and staff as the soil is severely contaminated. The school site used to house the Fulmer Research Institute, which opened in the 1950s. It tested types of metals as well as asbestos, cosmetic emulsions and glass, before closing down in the early 1990s for its premises to become offices. The Department for Education (DfE), which commissioned the work, principal Rose Codling and chairman of Slough Sikh Education Trust Nick Singh Kandola released a statement on the school's website last week to allay parents' and people’s fears, the report stated.

The DfE said it was not unusual to find contaminants in soil and it was decided to remove the soil from the site as a "precautionary" measure. It added that it wanted to reassure people there was no disruption to pupils’ education and no children were put at risk. Vice chairman of Stoke Poges Parish Council, Saera Carter, said: "Why do the digging now when the children have been there all this time? I just do not understand it."

An application for the Khalsa Secondary Academy to stay at its Stoke Poges home beyond its permitted one-year agreement, which runs out in September, was rejected by South Bucks District Council in January. Free schools were introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government making it possible for parents, teachers, charities and businesses to set up their own schools. These are an extension of the existing academies programme.