Roofs supported by poles, children learning in draughty portable cabins, food being served in corridors and playgrounds cordoned off.
These are just some of the examples we’ve heard from school leaders about the conditions in which they are trying to deliver a first-class education to pupils.
The RAAC crisis that exploded into public consciousness last year was sadly no flash in the pan and we have known for many years that more than four-fifths of schools shockingly still contain asbestos.
This week’s budget is the new government’s first opportunity to start the enormous job of tackling a school buildings crisis unbefitting one of the world’s wealthiest nations.
Many schools remain in a desperate state, despite the best efforts of staff, which is completely unacceptable for children, parents and everyone working in the school.
These conditions drain staff time and resources, and distract children from learning. At worst – usually when problems are not readily visible or yet known about – they may even be unsafe.
But schools being aware of issues and wanting to act on them is one thing – securing the funding to do so is another.
Capital funding was slashed under last government
From big rebuilding and refurbishment projects, to specific issues like boiler replacements, fire safety upgrades and roof repairs, Department for Education capital funding was slashed under the previous government.
Austerity measures meant it fell 46 per cent in real terms between 2010 and 2023 – and the department has underspent its capital budget in recent years – partly due to slow starts to the school rebuilding programmes.
The National Audit Office last year said 24,000 school buildings (38 per cent of the total) were beyond their initial life design and that funding levels had contributed to their ‘deterioration’.
Funding for school rebuilding was halved in real terms between 2010 and 2022, and the current programme is only intended to benefit around 500 schools in the decade from 2020.
At this pedestrian rate it would take around 440 years to reach every state school in England.
Over the last decade, school leaders witnessed their already meagre capital allocations slashed too.
Without that budget, small scale repairs cannot be carried out, leading to bigger and more expensive problems in the long run.
£1.4bn pledge only covers existing rebuilds
Before the election, Labour rightly criticised this shocking under-funding of school buildings – and over the weekend the Treasury confirmed it will invest £1.4 billion into the school estate.
However, this will only ensure delivery of the existing school rebuilding programme.
The programme had fallen well behind schedule under the previous government, with a BBC investigation earlier this month finding just 23 schools have been completed so far.
It is of course welcome that the new government is moving to get the programme back on track.
built in the 1950s with an “unusual hybrid concrete and steel strand truss” which
collapsed with no warning
However, far more needs to be invested to restore the school estate. Around 1,200 schools had originally applied for a place on the 10-year rebuilding programme.
And this is not just about large-scale rebuild projects. In a survey earlier this year, more than four fifths of school leaders (83 per cent) told us they lacked the funding needed to maintain their school buildings.
New funding is needed to repair or replace all of the oldest, most decrepit buildings, beginning with those with known structural risks, including asbestos, RAAC and other system-build construction methods.
A long-term plan is needed
As well as a massively enhanced school rebuilding programme, which should also help boost sustainability and accessibility, a long-term plan is needed to restore all school buildings to at least a “satisfactory” or better condition as soon as possible.
This should be the government’s minimum ambition, but a Department for Education survey in 2021 suggested that doing so would cost £11.4 billion.
And we must not forget about the smaller-scale capital budgets devolved directly to schools either.
We would therefore urge the government to build on the start it is making in the budget this week.
We understand it would be impossible to transform the school estate overnight, but ministers must use the three-year spending review next spring to commit to significant new funding for school buildings.
While we appreciate the fiscal outlook is difficult, it’s vital that schools are not forgotten and are at the front of the queue for investment.
Use falling rolls to boost per-pupil funding
After over a decade of underfunding, school budgets are more pressed than ever and Labour will need to address how we start investing in our nation’s future.
Just last Thursday, the National Audit Office published a report showing the strain that the SEND system is under, where per pupil funding has remained frozen for over a decade, despite sky-high inflation and a significant increase in need.
It was reassuring to hear the chancellor say at the weekend that school funding will be protected, and that education will continue to be prioritised as schools face continuing financial pressures.
But the government needs to be clear about what it means by “protected”. We urge ministers to use the reduction in pupil numbers some schools are facing to increase per pupil funding both in the short and longer term.
Few things can be more important than the education of our children – and sustained new investment would provide further evidence that under this government, schools are once again a priority.
