Castle Hill Academy and Rowdown Primary in New Addington have been given government grant funding to improve their school buildings, with money set aside for repairs that include work made necessary by RAAC in their construction. The two schools are among 684 across England to receive support in a new round of condition-improvement cash.
The announcement matters now because the Department for Education said this morning that the grants are part of Labour’s push to tackle school building problems quickly, through a programme worth more than £450 million this year. The wider investment, which totals more than £2.1 billion, is meant to replace heating systems, mend roofs and update electrical works in classrooms that have been left to deteriorate.
For Castle Hill Academy, the funding comes after a very public moment earlier this year, when the Princess of Wales visited the school. For families in New Addington, though, the bigger story is less ceremonial than practical: whether the money will finally reach the places where children learn, and whether the repairs will be enough to make those buildings feel safe day to day.
Natasha Irons, who spoke about parents’ fears during the RAAC crisis, said families in Croydon remember the terror of children no longer being safe in their own school because of years of Tory neglect. She said Labour was “turning the page” and fixing the foundations so local children are in a safe environment where they can achieve and thrive.
The government is trying to frame the funding as part of a long-term reset, with the Condition Improvement Fund and the School Rebuilding Programme feeding into a 10-year plan to renew schools and colleges across England. Bridget Phillipson said the previous government left behind a school estate defined by children sitting under steel props to stop crumbling concrete falling on their heads, and said parents expect their children to learn in a safe, warm environment.
The friction is that the repair money is arriving only after the damage has become impossible to ignore. The School Rebuilding Programme is already refurbishing schools across the country, including those affected by dangerous RAAC materials, and the latest grants are meant to fill in some of the gaps. What has not yet been set out is how much Castle Hill Academy and Rowdown Primary will each receive, or when the work at either site will begin.
