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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Josh Halliday North of England editor

‘Our school has been homeless for two years’: a rotting Cumbria school counts the cost

Smiling children standing in a classroom
Sacred Heart pupils at their temporary home in a secondary school. Pupils may not be able to return until 2029. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Tinsel glistens through the window of the darkened classroom. But the decorations are not from this Christmas, or last. A whiteboard marks the date when pupils and staff were evacuated in a hurry from Sacred Heart Catholic primary school nearly two years ago.

It was 16 January 2023 when a routine inspection found that the floor of the 95-year-old school building was rotten and could collapse any moment. Children would have plunged into the rat-infested cellar below.

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