School buildings are not fit for purpose

[noblegiraffe]

It seems to have come as a surprise to some this week that the vast majority of classrooms are not air conditioned and that teaching and learning are hugely reduced during the last weeks of term due to unacceptable temperatures and ventilation levels in classrooms (before you even factor in the heatwave of next week). The DfE's advice for schools during the heat is not about how to enable effective education to continue, but how to monitor children for signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke, and what to do if a child succumbs. educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/07/14/advice-for-schools-and-other-education-settings-during-a-heatwave/

Don't think they're any better in winter though, freezing classrooms saw kids in coats and hats struggling to learn with windows open for covid while the heating was turned off due to cost. inews.co.uk/news/education/schools-keep-classroom-windows-open-snowing-outside-lack-air-purifiers-1393032 (this will get worse as energy bills have shot up. My school usually turns the heating off at midday in the winter, I can imagine this will be cut even shorter.)

The government have also rejected calls for sprinklers in schools, so they are not safe in the event of a fire schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-snubs-calls-for-sprinklers-in-all-new-schools/

The DfE also think that Grenfell-style cladding is suitable for schools www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9636127/Grenfell-insulation-70-schools.html

The repair bill to bring schools up to a satisfactory safety standard is £11.4 billion, according to the DfE. www.theguardian.com/education/2021/may/27/repair-bill-for-schools-in-england-doubles-to-over-11bn-finds-survey

Schools are also riddled with asbestos that isn't being managed safely. The response is that asbestos inspections will start in September www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/schools-face-asbestos-inspections

Given that these buildings are where we send our children to for a large part of their childhood, this is outrageous. Shouldn't we have safe buildings where education can actually take place?

Unsafe and unfit for purpose. Our kids deserve better.

@ArchitectBarbie we have just made it onto the school rebuilding programme list. I swing between excited and wondering how 'fit for purpose' the plan will be.... You would be very welcome to help with ours!

And it's clear that a great deal of money has been spent on new buildings

I'm not sure it is clear. It is certainly clear that if £11.4 billion is needed by their own reckoning to make remedial repairs to the school estate to bring it up to a satisfactory standard, then they haven't spent enough.

We're talking about two different things, though. That 11.4bn is for repair bills to old buildings. I was talking about the amount of money being spent on new builds. And there's a lot of money going on that. There are so many new educational buildings going on round me. It's the architects and planners that should be held to account for poor designs.

Are you in London? There are no new educational buildings anywhere near me, but I have been to quite a few education conferences in London held in very shiny new school buildings.

Wondering if these are new schools too, to cope with increased population, rather than old buildings being replaced.

They built a very shiny new build next to us to replace the school - on a different site - which was quite literally falling down around its students.
It cost a lot of money and is plagued with issues.

I work in a new build school. The rooms are too small and there's not enough of them. The buildings are basically big greenhouses with windows that open a tiny crack. The quality is shoddy. We have an invacuation alarm for high winds as the buildings have dangerously shred big bits off the roof.

@noblegiraffe strikes me as someone that is passionate about teaching and wanting to raise awareness about what schools are really like

The scheme was not fit for purpose. It messed up all the high schools in the area where I live. It was a disaster for most schools which they are only just recovering from. They had 4 schools on one site at one time squashed into all kinds of buildings.

They are not big enough so they are having to build extensions now and they were built on land that floods often so that also has had a knock on effect.

One has closed as a result of poor planning so a whole school stands empty and unused now. Millions wasted.

No, giraffe, not in London. In the north west. But you can see from this thread that school building is going on across the country.

My college built a new building containing the library and the refectory. It was a lovely open plan building. The restaurant and social area was on the ground floor, next floor up was the library. The central area of the floor was cut away so you could see down into the cafe from the library. Unfortunately you could hear everything too. It was so noisy that no one could get work done or concentrate. It was lovely to look at but just so impractical. Just a poor design that they then didn't have the money to correct.

But you can see from this thread that school building is going on across the country.

So we've got old schools that are not fit for purpose and new schools that are not fit for purpose.

No idea why the new school designs are so poor, but given the links in the OP about Grenfell cladding, lack of sprinklers and so on, I suspect corners are being cut. The procurement process the DfE used for awarding the covid catch-up funding prioritised low price over quality and the programme completely collapsed as the supplier they went with was laughably unsuitable, so there's precedent.

Our new build doesn't have sprinklers. One of the windows shattered in the heat last summer so this coming week could be lively.

My school is one of those PFI glass boxes. Looks lovely and light, but like a greenhouse. They will have to send children home early from school next week as the temperature in some of the classrooms will be unbearable. (And no it’s not due to the snowflake staff, as they will have to stay in school regardless).

It also leaks in heavy rain. And will end up costing the taxpayer a fortune ….

Some bankers somewhere have made a lot of money out of providing a load of fancy but impractical schools.

We got new windows to replace dangerous single glazed one that opened wide and then smashed in high wibds, runnjng the risk of decapitating anyone below. Unfortunately, we now have double glazed ones that open a crack.
They almost literally seem to have fallen off the back of a lorry. One shattered in high temperatures last week.
That bodes well.

Not just schools, hospitals also really not fit for purpose.
Our public services are constantly neglected.
The huge challenge of getting these buildings and our housing prepared for the climate emergency is overwhelming to imagine.
Is any government actually prepared to do what's needed??

But with a swimming pool!

I've taught across state and independent and most (not all before anyone jumps on me) private schools' term dates would work much better for climate change.
Longer days (typically 8-4 for primary and 8.30-5 for secondary, sometimes plus Saturday mornings) mean you get the same amount of teaching time but the longer summers which avoid this kind of weather. Schools just arent built to be safe in these temperatures.
For what it's worth, the independent sector, bar the top 'well known' schools perhaps, is not much better than state at the moment in lots of ways (same recruitment crisis, shoestring budgets post-covid, hot overcrowded rooms) but in this way they are at an advantage as the longer days and longer holidays in exchange suits our new climate so much better.

My sons school has tremendous safety issues including a dropped ceiling with no fire breaks - if a fire gets up in to that space then the whole lot will go up very quickly. Its too expensive to repair though, so fingers crossed nothing catches fire!
Lack of funding from government has led to this, I'm angry at them.

Not just schools, hospitals also really not fit for purpose.

I can't comment on this, although can well believe it.

There does seem to be a public acknowledgement that the NHS is in crisis though, in a way that there isn't about education. The increase to National Insurance by a Tory government to give it more funding (although ultimately will go to social care, also widely acknowledged to be in crisis) seemed to be an acceptance that something needed to be done (although candidates now obviously vying to overturn this).

I’m nowhere near London and am surrounded by shiny academies.

The one I teach in was built in 2013.

Air con?

Are people surprised that schools don't have air con? surely most parents have been in at least one school or attended some themselves. There are tons of schools in old buildings so air con just won't be a thing. Same for most hospitals I know.

Maybe, but I'm not sure the state of hospital buildings is widely understood.

Anyway, not the main point of the thread.

I obviously haven't been in many schools, but I can imagine they have been similarly neglected.

Just get rid of ofsted and sats, that will free up millions to make improvements to old buildings.

I've taught across state and independent and most (not all before anyone jumps on me) private schools' term dates would work much better for climate change.

agree with private schools dates.

The huge challenge of getting these buildings and our housing prepared for the climate emergency is overwhelming to imagine.Is any government actually prepared to do what's needed??
Look at the huge issue we have we an ageing population. Everyone is going to have to pay more tax & not just income tax. No one will vote for anyone who says this though.

Maybe, but I'm not sure the state of hospital buildings is widely understood.

It's not something I've seen discussed. The main issue with hospitals seems to be lack of beds and lack of staff.