Article 28
Every child has the right to an education. Primary education must be free. Secondary education must be available to every child. Discipline in schools must respect children’s human dignity. Wealthy countries must help poorer countries achieve this.
Article 28
Every child has the right to an education. Primary education must be free. Secondary education must be available to every child. Discipline in schools must respect children’s human dignity. Wealthy countries must help poorer countries achieve this.
School Site
We have lots of planned works in the pipeline (new roof, new windows etc.) so will be continually updating this page to show you our progress.
Roof
We have official confirmation that the roof is going to be replaced. Due to timescales, the earliest this work could have started would be October 2024. Clearly, as autumn moves into winter, this is not an ideal time to be opening up areas of the school to the elements. As such, the roof works are due to begin in March/April 2024. We have termly update meetings with the local authority on the progress of these works and the windows, and this page will be updated with any additional information after these meetings.
28 April update
The very heavy downpour this week caused old leaks to restart and new ones to spring up. Frustratingly, some areas that have recently been repaired continued to cause problems and therefore we are getting contractors to return to sort these areas out. Local Authority work continues on the project with a view to March/April 2024 still being a starting point for a replacement roof.
Windows
KS2 windows were replaced about 18 months ago, and we are now waiting for the KS1 windows to be upgraded. After a tender process, a contractor has now been allocated the job, and today (11 May) they arrived on site to complete a full window survey in order to provide us with a schedule of works. This means the job is still on track to be completed over the summer holidays.
Heating
We are pleased that Year 2 are finally back in their classrooms – more to do with the weather being a bit milder rather than any improvements with the heating! The heating for the KS1 building is on the Capital Works Programme (works funded and organised by the Local Authority). As the system is so old, a design team has been out to see if there is a more efficient and cost effective solution for the building, and we are currently waiting to hear back from them.
11 May update
We have not heard back from the design teams as yet, so brought this up as part of the monthly LA meeting (see above). The LA representative is following this up to see what progress has been made.
School Grounds
We have a rolling programme of grounds maintenance across the site. You may often see or hear the grass being cut, bushes being pruned and leaves (oh the leaves!) being blown.
Our most recent work was the annual ‘top up’ of the bark chippings in the KS2 climbing frame area:
We have also had a wood chipping covering laid in the KS2 quiet area. The OSA are funding a project to make this area more useable, and as part of this will be purchasing some picnic benches that can be used on warm sunny lunchtimes.
Pedestrian gate
The pedestrian gate on Sandpiper Road is currently locked as it was subject to some vandalism recently and is broken. We are arranging repairs through the council and it will be fixed as soon as they are able to.
Playground drainage
Recent very heavy rain caused several areas of the playground to flood. We arranged for a drainage company to complete a clearance project, and they have successfully cleared the KS1 playground drains. They will be returning soon to complete clearance of the KS2 playground drains too. Unfortunately, some of the drains have root ingress, meaning they will never totally be clear – we will be arranging works to be carried out to remedy this.
Bike Shed
We have removed the bike shed as it was old, damaged and quite frankly, an eyesore! It has been properly removed and responsibly disposed of. We will not be replacing it – the bike racks and scooter pods will remain.
Refurbishments
This year so far, we have had three out of 12 pupil toilets refurbished. Year R, 1 and 3/4 Boys’ toilets are now brand new! We are very pleased with the results and the children think they are great. Year R girls’ toilets are next on the list, and budget willing, we hope to get these refurbished in the coming months.
Vandalism repairs and prevention
The OSA created a GoFundMe page following some recurrent spates of vandalism that took place over the winter. This raised the school £2696.15 to help with repairs and prevention.
This money contributed towards:
- Roof repairs (the lead flashing was removed on more than one occasion, and tiles were broken)
- Window repairs
- CCTV installation
The total cost of repairs due to vandalism came to just over £6,000, so we are extremely grateful to the local community not only for their contributions to this fund, but also for their vigilance in looking out for the site when it’s not occupied.