Coventry's 'worst' schools bid for rebuilding funds

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Coventry City Council is aiming to prove seven of its schools are among the worst school buildings in England.



In the government's Priority School Building Programme, it has pledged to rebuild 20 of the 100 worst school properties in England, over five years.

The council has highlighted problems with damp and leaking roofs at the Richard Lee Primary School in Wyken as part of its bid.

Head teacher Nicola Harwood said the 1950s building was "in danger".

'Cracks appearing'

She said: "The structure is old and in danger. Our main problem is the roof, the quote we've had to replace the whole roof is over £0.5m.

"The school boiler and heating system needs replacing and we have severe drainage problems, the whole drainage system needs re-doing. We have cracks appearing now in the floors and walls.

"We only have £9,000 in the budget this year for the school building and of that we only have £4,000 left to see us through the winter so I have major concerns."

The schools in the Coventry bid for re-building funds are:
Alice Stevens School
Ernesford Grange Community School
Richard Lee Primary School
President Kennedy School and Community College
St Thomas More Catholic Primary School
Whitmore Park Primary School
Wyken Croft Primary School

In July parents and pupils from Coventry took a petition of 3,000 signatures to Downing Street to ask for funding.

The government has previously said Coventry City Council had been given £11m to spend on school buildings in the past year, which the council said it had spent on urgent cases.

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Funds for 'worst building' Richard Lee Primary School

A school building in Coventry described by the schools minister "as one of the worst" he had seen is among seven in the city which will receive funding.

Richard Lee Primary School in Wyken is among 261 schools in England which will be refurbished or rebuilt under the Priority School Building Programme.

Head teacher Nicola Harwood said it was "great news" but she hoped it meant the school could be completely rebuilt.

In Warwickshire, Queen Elizabeth School in Atherstone will receive funds.

The Priority School Building Programme has a £2bn budget for work to be carried out over five years.

A total of 587 applied for the scheme, which is aimed at rebuilding the most dilapidated schools.

Last July, parents and pupils from Richard Lee Primary School delivered a petition to Downing Street calling for the building to be repaired.

The petition, signed by about 3,000 people, said action was necessary because the school had problems with leaking roofs and damp.

Last month, Schools Minister Nick Gibb toured the building and said it was clear it was in a bad condition.

'Future generations'

The Department for Education has not said how much each school will receive, but instead listed schools which will have "their condition needs met".

It said it will write to schools with more information, and Ms Harwood said she wanted to see the "finer details".

"We know structurally that we need a rebuild - that's our concern," she said.

"So we need enough money to make sure that the building will be structurally sound for future generations coming to Richard Lee."

All seven schools which applied for funding in Coventry were successful.

The other six are:
Alice Stevens School
Ernesford Grange
St Thomas Moore Catholic Primary
Whitmore Park Primary
President Kennedy School
Wyken Croft Primary

Queen Elizabeth School was one of two schools in Warwickshire which had applied for funds, but the only one that was successful.

The programme replaces Labour's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme, which was controversially cancelled by the Education Secretary Michael Gove.