Talks ongoing for extra cash for structural problem schools in North Tyneside
The call for extra cash to fix four schools ailed by structural problems in North Tyneside continues – with “a lot of work” ahead to decide their futures.
According to a North Tyneside Council report, the authority’s £3.5m school repairs fund from the central government would not cover the work needed for just one of four schools afflicted by non-RAAC related concrete problems. The schools, namely Fordley Primary, Hazlewood Primary, Grasmere Academy, and Churchill Community College have all faced problems owing to brittle concrete and redundant construction methods.
Talks between the council, Grasmere Academy, and the Department for Edcuation regarding additional funding are on-going.
The council’s school organisation and programme manager, Grant Hopkins said: “The one thing that we need to be stressed about is what is going to happen with these buildings. We have worked with the Department for Education and our structural engineers and have identified three options for remedial works.
“All those works come in at a cost, for one school, which is more than we get for work for the entire school population. So, therefore, there is a lot of work needed, something I’m not involved with but other officers will be, about what is going to happen to these schools.”
Mr Hopkins continued: “There is a lot of work to be done with the DfE to decide what is going to be done to these three schools in the long term.”
Elected members were also told by Mr Hopkins that if a financial arrangement cannot be agreed on between the DfE and the council, the affected schools would be added to the school rebuilding programme.
The discovery of the defects was made following a small ceiling collapse in Fordley Primary School in December last year. The collapse prompted inspections across the whole borough for schools built in and around the same time as Fordley, and subsequently, the three other schools were found to have the same problem.
The local authority had put forward mitigations at the onset, including moving affected pupils to different schools and venues, and has now either installed or has plans to install long-lasting modular classrooms on the affected school sites.