Plans approved for new teaching block to replace tents at Clevedon School
Students will be moving to a temporary school block after learning inside a large marquee for 18 months
Plans to build a temporary teaching block at Clifton school have been approved.
The building will replace a large marquee, which has been in use since High Alumina Cement (HAC) was discovered in 2023, which made the school building unsafe.
It means students can finally move out of the large white tents they have been learning in.
"It's very exciting," said headteacher Jim Smith, "it's a real visible sign to staff, students and the wider community that things are changing, we're developing, we're evolving.
"There's been some tough days, especially in extremes of weather.
"The biggest problem has been the roof which sounds like a drum in heavy rain."
North Somerset Council has now approved plans to build a temporary school block, while a permanent building is developed.
It has been welcomed by parents anxious to see their children out of the tents they have been taught in.
Lodging a supporting comment on the planning application, one parent wrote: “This is desperately needed so that children don’t have to be educated in tents anymore.
"They are freezing in the winter, sweltering in the summer and not sound proof so lessons are disrupted by noise from the next classroom!”
Despite the challenges, Mr Smith believes the experience was a positive one.
"The speed we put the learning village together, the quality of education that's been delivered is something I think is the proudest thing we've achieved as a school in recent years," he added.