'My son is asking when his school will open again'

More than 200 pupils at Nazareth House Primary School in Londonderry remain at home on Thursday, after safety concerns over the building's roof forced the school to close.

The Education Authority (EA) said urgent remedial works have been prioritised to allow it to reopen as soon as possible, but parents like Terri Lamberton are worried about how long that will take.

She has two children at the school, including seven-year-old Daniel, who has special educational needs.

"Because of the disorders that my own wee child has, routine and repetition for him is so important and his ability to retain information will really be affected by not being able to access school," she said.

The building on Bishop Street dates back to 1902 and principal Róisín Blackery said they had been raising concerns over its structural safety for two decades.

She said the school submitted a business case for a new roof to the EA in 2017, but it was "not actioned".

"We have been concerned about patches of damp, about all sorts of ramifications of damp wallpaper peeling off the walls and things like that," she said.

"Calls have been continually raised with the EA regarding the problems."

The Catholic Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown chairs the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, which is the governing authority of Nazareth House primary school.

He said education bodies were not putting enough money into maintenance and funding should now be reviewed.

"There's been a huge under-funding of statutory services," he said.

"This is just one thing, it was going to happen sometime, somewhere and it has happened here."

He said there needed to be a renewed look at education and the needs because "if we don't deal with our children now, there are bigger problems in the future".

Sinn Féin assembly member Pádraig Delargy said it was a "deeply upsetting time for staff, parents and pupils, particularly in the run-up to Christmas".

"The school is simply asking for an agreed and practical solution that allows the school community to be kept together, facing minimum disruption to learning and school life," he said.

"The Department [of Education] and the Education Authority must get to grips with this issue and similar issues faced by other schools."

The EA said it was "deeply concerned" at the growing school maintenance and repair backlog across Northern Ireland due to lack of funding for the education sector.

"As a result of current budgetary restrictions, we are only able to carry out emergency maintenance works," a spokesperson said.

"This is an increasingly unsustainable position.

"Without significantly increased levels of funding, school buildings will continue to decline, increasing the potential for further disruption to classes."

The Department of Education (DE) has been asked for comment.