I’ve just met with Baroness Barran, the Department for Education (DFE) & Headteacher & CEO of St James’s Primary School in my constituency to ensure the issues our school are facing are dealt with promptly and that work starts as soon as possible to make the school safe.
We are now waiting for the DFE to carry out a viability assessment on what works are needed – this must be carried out as soon as possible.
Face to face learning has started today at alternative sites, and I want to thank Francesca, the Head at St James, for doing all she can to minimise disruption given she had such short notice, dealing with all of the temporary arrangements and urgent risk assessments needed.
I also do want to thank Baroness Barran and her staff for their time and what was a constructive helpful meeting for my school.
However it is not acceptable that nationally schools are being told they may need to use reserves to pay for temporary arrangements.
The Government need to ensure they are clear on exactly what will be reimbursed. what counts as reasonable costs and a timeline for works.
I will keep up the pressure on the Govt to support schools, to fully fund all temporary arrangements & long term works to make sure our kids are learning in safety!
And I will continue to highlight both this Government’s poor handling of the crisis and placing the blame squarely on this Govt and its decades of cuts in funding that have destroyed not just school buildings but many local services.