Crumbling schools - really not good enough for our children - unsafe, freezing cold, damp...

[HarlaEB]

Panorama BBC now.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001vnjc/panorama-britains-crumbling-schools

It does seem to have been all swept under the carpet ! A bit like the post office scandal. Main headlines for weeks and then all of a sudden nothing…

Teachers have been telling people on here for ages about the standard of school buildings (and yes my username is apt!)

Ours is so infested with mice that they're not scared of the noise of the children anymore and scuttle out at all hours. The kitchen keeps having to close and serve brought in meals. Rats in the playground. There's a corner classroom which regularly gets down to 14 degrees. Cupboard doors falling off and the fire doors don't even meet safety standards.

Fun.

My classroom is so cold about a third of my class have chilblains. Parents don't ever come into the classrooms and have no idea how cold it is.

That's terrible. Are you in Scotland or England?

I spend my working life in a range of schools too.

Government cuts mean many schools are in an appalling state. Awful way for children ( and adults) to spend their day.

Add "...and in the summer utterly, intolerably hot to the point where the kids can't concentrate". Oh, and "asbestos-riddled".

Don't even get started on the toilets.

Vote.

(Not conservative.)

Labour isn’t going to be the miracle we all hope it could be

Just remember, Blue Passports and everything suddenly looks great.

Though they are black, in reality.

I don't think any sensible person imagines Labour will be able to sort out 14 years of neglect overnight. We all know it will take years, probably decades.

PS - very apt username!

DS’s Primary school was all temporary huts and buildings with asbestos. The temporary huts were 60 years old. Had seen many Governments of different colours come and go

I Claudine,

Yes but buildings also don't suddenly start to deteriorate in 14 years either.

Labour isn't going to be the miracle, we obviously need new schools...

It’s appalling I felt really depressed after watching the show. My son’s school is fine but it made me so sad that some children are being exposed to dangerous gases and dampness. Tory austerity started all this. They have no shame

Omg thqt is shocking

So you don't think 14 years of austerity has had an impact? I bet if you did no maintenance on your house for 14 years there would be deterioration.

I don't think anyone has ever said Labour will be some sort of miracle workers.

It's all absolutely fine, because the Tories are promising tax cuts. So Rishi and his mates can save even more tax while schools continue to crumble.

No one covers the link to different funding agreements. Our primary is a MAT but only one school in trust and has had millions spent on it. New roof / massive building works / new playgrounds.
Not sure if the featured ones are LA schools

Nothing to do with being in a MAT or an LA school you have to apply to the government for schools condition funding.

More than 1 in 7 buildings that had to close due to RAAC had previously applied for funding and been rejected.

https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/07/more-than-one-in-seven-schools-on-raac-list-were-denied-emergency-funding

Russell Scott is LA maintained.
Having looked I think issues are there.
Most locally are trust schools
MATs get money.

@noblegiraffe but when our school converted a big thing was to get grants etc

@noblegiraffe I do a job that l

@noblegiraffe I do a job that works with schools. I've no idea how funding works but trust schools in my city ate not in these messes but LA ones are

The headteacher in the Guardian story whose school is now unusable is part of an academy chain. I don't think MATs are awash with money for school buildings, it's widely acknowledged that the school building fund has been way too low for years and the entire school estate is in a terrible condition as a result - the DfE have been begging for more money of years. This certainly isn't just an LA school building problem.

MATS don’t get vast amounts of extra money. Our local one definitely doesn’t. They get allocated a certain amount of capital spend which covers so little and when spread across the number of schools it works out about £45k per school. They could spend the whole amount on one school and it wouldn’t touch the surface.