Sheffield schools need £100m repairs in total - but ‘no imminent danger’ to schoolchildren

Over £100m in repairs are needed across all of Sheffield’s maintained schools - £45m of which are classed as ‘urgent’.

Whether it’s a lick of paint, a new roof, or a complete fire safety assessment, the total cost of addressing all issues in the Steel City’s maintained schools would run up a nine-figure sum.

It comes after a national report in June found 700,000 children in England are learning in ‘unsafe or aging’ buildings that need major repairs.

Despite this, Sheffield City Council says it is “confident” no pupils or staff at any of its schools are “at imminent risk or danger”.

However, the latest building surveys were carried out during 2018-202, with fresh ones to take place across 2023 and 2024.

It leaves the local authority trying to bridge the gulf between the enormous repair bill and the £3.5m a year for repairs allocated by the Government.

The eye-watering costs are illustrated by ongoing repair jobs like the £2.2m bill to renovate the roof at Nether Green Junior, £620,000 to replace aging concrete at Abbey Lane Primary, and a fire risk assessment across four different schools totting up to £1.6m. Even replacing the heating at Springfield and Meersbrook Bank Primary amounts to £850,000.

That doesn’t even include the estimated £23m needed by the council to create 1,000 school places by 2025, as ordered by the Department for Education in a recent report - meaning the fund gap is closer to £120m in reality.

Councillor Dawn Dale, chair of Sheffield Council’s education, children and families committee, said the massive bills fluctuate with the costs of materials.

She said: “It’s no secret that schools are underfunded as part of the Government’s budget.

“We know we need more funding in Sheffield, however, we work with what we have and we successfully manage our budgets allowing us to be in a position to support repairs across Sheffield maintained schools.

“We feel confident that our data is up to date and that we have no schools where pupils or staff are at imminent risk or danger.”

In answer to questions by The Star, a council spokesperson was not specific about what made £45m of the repair work ‘urgent’, only saying they use a scoring system and that: “...because the council have targeted well with the funding we receive, and we have such good data, we are confident there are no safety issues in Sheffield schools generally, but lack of funding does increase the risk that this may not be the case in future.”

It comes as Sheffield could potentially rebuild as many as seven schools in the city top to bottom through the DfE’s Rebuilding Schools programme, with Brunswick Community Primary closest to starting.

The council says in the “unlikely” event of a school being found unsafe, arrangements would be made up to and including shutting the school or part of it, adding: “We would never allow pupils and staff to work in a building that is unsafe.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Thousands of schools are receiving significant additional revenue funding as part of the extra £2bn of investment we are providing for both 2023/24 and 2024/25 which will take school funding its highest level in history next year.”