Head teacher raising £100k for 'urgent repairs'

A head teacher in Devon has launched a funding challenge to raise £100,000 for urgent upgrades to a temporary classroom which is 40 years old.

Steve Hitchcock, from St Peter's Church of England Primary School in Budleigh Salterton, said he had lost all hope of the government providing all the funding.

Mr Hitchcock said his pupils were paying the price because schools had not had decent government investment for more than a decade.

The Department for Education said it had allocated "just under £1m to the responsible body for St Peter's CofE Primary School".

Mr Hitchcock said that, ideally, old temporary classrooms should be knocked down and replaced with state-of-the-art facilities.

However, he added that to replace just one of what he called the "sheds" would cost about £250,000 and he believed it is too expensive to try to raise that much.

Instead, he has launched a campaign to raise £100,000 for one of the temporary classrooms to be refurbished.

He said urgent upgrades were needed for the school to become energy-efficient and fit for the future.

Pupil Jacob, 10, said it was often cold in class and he had to wear a hat and coat.

He added that everyone had had fun thinking about fundraising ideas but it was still "a lot of money we've got to raise".

The fundraising campaign is featuring non-uniform days, triathlon-inspired sporting events and community-led challenges.

Evie, 11, said she did not understand why there was not government money for improvements.

She said: "These kids are suffering just because they want to learn and they're coming to school and they have to wrap themselves up just to keep warm."

The Department for Education said the government "inherited a school estate in dire need of repair, but we are committed to fixing the foundations for staff and pupils, turning the page on drift and neglect".

It added: "The department has allocated just under £1m to the responsible body for St Peter's CofE Primary School in this financial year for local investment."

Mr Hitchcock said he knew the government said it was investing more but it was "a drop in the ocean".

He said that instead of the "rhetoric of the last 15 years... a proper long-term plan to support the schools that need it to bring them all up to a satisfactory level" was required.