List of 15 Norfolk schools which need urgent safety repairs

Education bosses said the sites identified as needing work will not have to shut while repair work is carried out.

The inspections of 60 schools Norfolk County Council maintains was ordered after the partial collapse of a lath and plaster ceiling at Fakenham Junior School, run by Synergy Education Trust.

Fakenham Junior School (Image: Google Maps)

Ceilings constructed using plaster and lath can lose their structural integrity, particularly if they get wet.

The council is still calculating the cost of the maintenance work which will be needed.

The schools which have been identified as needing repairs after the latest inspections are:

Avenue Junior School, Norwich

The Parkside School, Norwich

Freethorpe Community Primary and Nursery School 

Bacton Primary School 

Brooke VC CE Primary School 

Hainford VC Primary School 

Woodton Primary School 

Horning Community Primary School 

Ludham Primary School and Nursery 

Terrington St. John Primary School 

Tilney St. Lawrence Community Primary School 

Ellingham CE VC Primary School 

Walpole Highway Primary School 

St George’s Primary & Nursery  School, Great Yarmouth

Hevingham Primary School 

The council initially arranged inspections at 23 maintained schools, where it knew the material was present.

Those inspections were then extended to a further 37 schools, where it was thought the age of the buildings meant lath and plaster could be present.

That led to an emergency three-day closure at Avenue Junior School after issues with the ceilings of six classrooms were discovered.

Parkside School in Norwich (Image: Angela Sharpe)

And a classroom at Parkside School in Norwich was shut for a day.

Penny Carpenter (Image: Norfolk Conservatives)

Penny Carpenter, cabinet member for children services at the Conservative-controlled county council, said: "The safety of children and staff always has to come first, so it was important that we carried out these checks as soon as this issue came to light. 

"We will now be working to make repairs at the 15 schools where they are needed and will get these done as quickly as we can, whilst minimising any disruption to children’s learning. 

"We’ve already notified the Department for Education of this issue, but we will now be writing to them with details of our findings and highlighting the additional financial pressure this will place on our school capital budget."

Brian Watkins (Image: Liberal Democrats)

Brian Watkins, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat Alliance group at County Hall, said: "The situation is of course unfortunate. However, it is welcome to hear these schools will remain open for the time being."

Mike Smith-Clare, deputy leader of the Labour group at County Hall, said: "The fact that 15 schools out of the 60 inspected have safety problems, presents undeniable concerns.

"There can be no doubt that essential buildings are crumbling due to the previous lack of funding allocated to the education sector.

"What is more worrying is a lack of knowledge regarding possible problems across Norfolk's trusts and academies."

Labour county councillor Mike Smith-Clare (Image: Labour Party)

The county council is spending hundreds of pounds a week on the relocation of pupils at one of the schools affected.

Woodton Primary School (Image: Google Maps) Woodton Primary School pupils have been moved into the village hall for the foreseeable future. 

Norfolk County Council is spending hundreds of pounds a week to use the facility, which is owned by the parish council, and could be racking up bills of more than £1,000 each month the classroom remains closed.

Pupils are being taught at the village hall for the majority of the week. All 60 children have to cram into one room at the school on days the venue has been prebooked.

Academies are responsible for their own maintenance programmes and County Hall has written to trusts urging them to make checks.