A Gateshead headteacher said her school is 'on its knees' due to desperately needing repairs, which have previously been declined.
Kate Chisholm, Executive headteacher at Oakfield Schools Federation, told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that the schools' walls and roof are rotting, asbestos is present in the building, and the school yard regularly floods due to problems with the drains. But she claims that the school was declined a new school build last year because "it wasn't deemed to be in disrepair enough".
It comes as a report by the public spending watchdog identified that about 700,000 children in England attend schools requiring major repairs following years of underfunding, with poor conditions directly affecting pupil attainment and teacher retention. The National Audit Office (NAO) found that around 24,000 school buildings, or 38% of the total, are currently beyond their estimated design lifespan.
