Disbelief as school loses out on funding (From Gazette Series)

Disbelief as school loses out on funding

A SCHOOL where staff have to stand around with buckets to catch water every time it rains has been turned down for Government funds for a third time.

Rednock Secondary School, which has around 1,400 students on its register, has some of the worst school buildings in Gloucestershire, the Gazette was told this week.

There are gaping holes in the ceilings, rotting woodwork, water-stained walls and dangerously-exposed wires protruding from every nook and cranny.

And although it boasts some of the best academic records in the county, the school has been deserted by education chiefs at the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), which has turned down the latest bid for £6.5 million.

Staff and governors at the specialist science college were hoping to transform the old and dilapidated buildings but this week headteacher David Alexander expressed his bitter disappointment at being rejected.

He told the Gazette: "We are hugely disappointed.

"Our exam results are going up and up but the state of our buildings is dropping down and down.

"The OFSTED report said accommodation at the school was very poor yet here we are again without funding to do anything."

Mr Alexander added: "As soon as it rains, water concentrates on the flat roof and starts to come through the ceiling.

"People know that we are doing our best and working hard given the conditions."

Last year the school's sixth form buildings had to be pulled down because they were condemned and students are currently being taught in temporary classrooms while the school waits for planning permission, and funds, to rebuild.

Mr Alexander is now hoping the school will get money from the Government's Building Schools for the Future scheme.

"The school budget can only go to covering basic maintenance," he said.

"I am told there is £20 million on offer to rebuild one school in the county. We want ourselves put forward as a priority."

School governor John Cox, chairman of the school's sites and buildings committee, said: "The government seems to be pouring money into schools with poor academic records and my argument is that if we had improved facilities we would have even better results than we already have."

Three Gloucestershire schools competed for the funding, but Rednock was the only one to have been left with nothing. Archway School in Stroud received other Government cash and Cleeve School in Bishops Cleeve, near Cheltenham received all £6.5 million.

A spokesman for the DfES said the department was unable to comment on why the school's bid had failed but said: "Over the next three years Gloucestershire will be in receipt of £100 million for school projects."

Cllr Jackie Hall, the county council's cabinet member for children's services, said: "We are extremely disappointed and frustrated that Rednock school failed to secure permission to borrow money from the DfES for improvements.

"We are already finding significant funds for the school within our capital programme but what the school really needs is a major injection of capital. For years we and the school have been using sticky plasters to keep the school together. We are working with the school to find bigger and better funding opportunities."