Hornsea School and Language College last week invited their local MP, Graham Stuart, to highlight their need for funding for repairs and renovations.
All schools receive a share of an annual allocation for maintenance work, but extensive issues at Hornsea School have prompted the school’s Headteacher, Steve Ostler, to appeal to the school’s Member of Parliament.
This year’s national school maintenance budget stands at £1.8 billion, which is a 20% increase from the last financial year, while there was also a one-off injection of £560 million last year. A further wave of the Government’s ‘School Rebuilding Programme’ has also been announced, and it is this that the school is hoping to take advantage of after being unsuccessful in the first wave of funding last year.
Many pupils are currently learning in temporary classrooms due to water damage in the main buildings, while the cafeteria can only accommodate a fraction of students at the school. The extent of the damage has prompted teaching staff to reach out to parents for their construction knowhow, which has helped the daily breakfast club with new facilities.
Beverley and Holderness MP, Graham Stuart, said: “I was really pleased to use one of my first physical visits in months to see HSLC’s facilities for myself and I can relay this back. I met with Steve virtually a few times earlier this year too. He’s passionate about giving his pupils a quality education and understandably wants the best possible facilities to match this.
“I’ve been putting their case to Schools Ministers Nick Gibb and Baroness Berridge, and I will be continuing to lobby them on HSLC’s behalf, particularly as the Government is planning to consult on how schools are prioritised for the rebuilding programme.”
The Government has said that further details about the School Rebuilding Programme will be set out later in 2021, with projects ranging from refurbishing individual buildings through to undertaking whole school rebuilds. Its planned consultation will include examining how evidence about schools’ need for funding may be provided in order to support prioritisation.
50 schools benefited from the first wave of the School Rebuilding Programme, with the first rebuild projects expected to commence from this autumn.
