Watchdog warns many pupils are attending schools that put them at risk

Watchdog warns 700,000 pupils are attending crumbling schools that put them at risk of injury or death

• Report shows 700,000 children in England attend schools needing major repairs

Hundreds of thousands of children are being taught in crumbling schools that need major refurbishment, a watchdog has warned. 

Pupils across the country face serious injury or even death at the hands of decaying buildings that have long past their shelf-life. 

According to a report by the Nartional Audit Office (NAO), 700,000 children in England attend schools requiring major repairs. 

Reseacrh shows that more than a third of the total school buildings (38 per cent) are currently beyond their estimated design lifespan. And around 400 schools that may have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) are at risk of collapse. 

Dame Meg Hillier MP, chairwoman of the public accounts committee, said parents need to be reassured that risks will be ‘remedied’.

Hundreds of thousands of children are being taught in crumbling schools that need major refurbishment, a watchdog has warned (Stock Photo)

Dame Meg Hillier MP, chairwoman of the public accounts committee, said parents need reassured that risks will be ‘remedied’

She said: ‘Seven-hundred-thousand pupils are learning in a school that needs major rebuilding or refurbishment, but worryingly Government does not know how many schools may be unsafe. 

‘Since 2017, the Department for Education has improved its data on the general condition of the school estate, which has helped illustrate a serious deficit in annual funding required to improve schools. 

‘After years of firefighting issues, parents need reassurance that the department knows where, when and how any risks to their children will be remedied.’ 

The government does not have sufficient information to manage ‘critical’ risks to the safety of pupils and staff arising from a deterioration in the condition of school buildings, the report warned. 

The watchdog said the focus is now on 14,900 schools built during the period when RAAC was used in construction. It is prone to failure and was regularly used between the 1950s and mid-1990s. 

Of these, 42 per cent have confirmed they have undertaken work to identify the concrete, but potential risks are yet to be identified in the remaining schools. 

By May this year, 572 schools had been confirmed as potentially containing RAAC. The Department for Education (DfE) is working with them to confirm that steps had been taken to mitigate the safety of staff and pupils, the report said.

Latest figures show that 196 of 600 assessments planned by December had identified RAAC in 65 schools, of which 24 required immediate action. 

Extra funding has been provided to ensure there is no immediate risk in these schools. 

There are also concerns over some ‘system-built’ blocks constructed using concrete or wooden frames. 

In its submission ahead of the 2020 Spending Review, the DfE said it needed £5.3 billion a year of capital funding to maintain schools and mitigate the most serious risks of building failure. 

Due to the time it would take the department to expand its school rebuilding programme, it requested an average of £4 billion a year between 2021 and 2025.

However, the Treasury subsequently allocated an average of £3.1 billion, leading bodies such as local authorities and multi-academy trusts to use limited funding on the most urgent problems at the expense of general remedial work to prevent building failure in the future, the report said.

Teaching union bosses described the scale of the building safety issues in schools as ‘shocking’. 

Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: ‘It is perfectly clear that the government has made a conscious decision to deprioritise education over the past 14 years and the deterioration of the school estate is one of the results of this mindset. 

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said safety in schools should be ‘a given’.

He added: ‘These shocking figures lay bare how far short the Government is falling in its efforts to ensure school buildings are safe and fit for purpose for children and staff.’

A Department for Education spokesperson said ‘Nothing is more important than the safety of pupils and teachers which is why we have been significantly investing in transforming schools up and down the country.

‘We are investing in 500 projects for new and refurbished school buildings through our School Rebuilding Programme. 

On top of this, we have allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion committed for 2023-24. 

‘It is the responsibility of those who run our schools – academy trusts, local authorities, and voluntary-aided school bodies – who speak to their schools’ day to day to manage the maintenance of their schools and to alert us if there is a concern with a building.

We will always provide support on a case-by-case basis if we are alerted to a serious safety issue by these responsible bodies.’ 

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