The government has been accused of “a complete dereliction of duty” over the state of school buildings in England after a woman sustained a serious head injury when a large piece of cladding fell off while she was waiting to pick up her children.
The incident at Dore primary school in Sheffield, which was raised in the House of Commons on Monday, came at a time of growing concern about the deteriorating condition of the school estate, and warnings that some buildings are in danger of collapse.
The injured woman had to take three weeks off work, has undergone an MRI scan and has tinnitus as a result of the incident in January. “I did not see it come off. I heard a bit of a crack, and then something hit me in the face,” she said.
Carla, who did not wish to give her full name, was waiting in front of the school for her two children, aged eight and 10, near one of the exits used by pupils, when the 12-15ft-long fascia board with 4in nails fell off and struck her on the head.
“It is horrifying that we’ve got to this point,” she said. “Our children’s school buildings are literally falling apart and it feels like it is only a matter of time before something even more serious happens.
“My injuries are bad enough but the fact that this could so easily have been a child doesn’t bear thinking about. I know the school is doing everything they can, but I also know that they don’t have the funds. It feels like this is a warning sign for the government and I really hope it isn’t ignored.” The school, which was judged “outstanding” by Ofsted in 2015, declined to comment.
This month, seven unions wrote to the government demanding immediate action to address the “shocking” state of school buildings in England after years of inadequate investment.
The Department for Education acknowledged the crisis in its latest annual report, which raised the risk level of buildings collapsing from “critical” to “critical – very likely”.
Last week, the government confirmed that at least 39 state schools in England had been forced to close either partially or entirely in the past three years because one or more buildings had been deemed unsafe.
Olivia Blake, the Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam, who raised Carla’s case in parliament during education questions, said parents and teachers at the school were concerned about the safety of the building and the impact of repair costs on the school’s already overstretched budget.
“It is a complete dereliction of duty. Thirteen years of reckless Conservative cuts to schools’ capital spending budgets have left us in this situation. Now my constituent is paying the price. Ministers need to take urgent action to address this crisis before anyone else is harmed.”
The schools minister, Nick Gibb, responding in the Commons to Blake’s question and others on deteriorating school buildings, said increased numbers of structural issues had been identified through continued monitoring and surveying of the school estate.
“We can and do improve the life expectancy of school buildings by careful maintenance and upgrades over time. That is why we have a 10-year rebuilding programme and why we allocate significant capital funding each year. And whenever the department is made aware of a dangerous building, immediate action is taken.”
Councillors Mick Rooney and Dawn Dale, co-chairs of the education, children and families policy committee at Sheffield city council, said government funding for school buildings was woefully inadequate.
“We are aware of an unfortunate incident that took place at Dore primary school where a piece of cladding fell from the roof, due to high winds, and hit a member of the public. This wasn’t caused by a lack of repairs to the roof. The cladding was urgently made safe after the incident and cones and exclusion zones were put in place.
“Although the incident was not linked to the state of the building, like many other cities, Sheffield certainly needs much more funding to maintain its schools properly. We know from the building condition surveys carried out at all of our schools, that a further £100m spend is needed on our school buildings, £45m of which is considered to be urgent need. We are currently only allocated £3.5m by government each year. Clearly, this is woefully inadequate and of concern to us.”
