We today reveal the truth behind Tory levelling up claims as one head teacher tells of a crumbling school building with no funding for repairs.
Pepe Di’Iasio’s school in Yorkshire has more than 50 leaks in the roof, leaving his pupils “cold and wet”.
As we launch Levelling up Watch, Mr Di’Iasio said: “Words are cheap, actions speak louder than words.”
Mr Di’Iasio dreads the rain. Dreads it because the school roof leaks and staff will be running around classrooms to place buckets to catch the water.
It’s just one more problem in a Covid-hit educational world that has caused such anxiety for his pupils that some have turned up drunk for lessons, while others have been traumatised by domestic violence.
The school has used all its cash reserves putting support in place.
Di’Iasio says: “We’ve done our best to try to prioritise people, not spend money on bricks and mortar.”
But the 52-year-old building is in desperate need of investment.
The clapped-out drains are collapsing, there are cracks in windows caused by subsidence, water comes through the flat roof in at least 50 places, and the technology building has been closed because it is in such a state.
Site manager Martin Smith gives us a tour of Wales High School near Sheffield, South Yorks, and says: “It’s just a nightmare, we’re forever mopping up.”
We stop to chat to two caretakers, one has 73 keys hanging on a chain around his neck as the locks have not been upgraded since the school opened in 1970.
The caretakers are fixing a huge fan heater and, with a sigh, one explains: “It’s broken again. Everything is just tired out.”
There are 2,000 pupils, aged 11 to 18, at the school, where carpets are stained from the leaks and ceiling tiles are missing where caretakers burst them to release the build-up of water.
Science teachers were furious last term when water came through and destroyed crucial coursework.
But despite the struggles, Mr Di’Iasio and the caretakers could not be more proud of their secondary school and their “amazing” pupils.
The devotion of the staff is clear – during lockdown, the kitchen staff and cleaners repainted the whole school.
It may not be pretty, but Wales High School, rated “Good” by Ofsted, is so popular parents fight to get their kids places, with at least 100 appeals every year when admission is refused.
The school tries to keep up with this demand, even converting staff toilets to classrooms. Head of School, Lisa McCall lost half her office to accommodate students.
She says: “I can hear the lesson next door and I have to whisper if discussing anything confidential because of the thin partition.”
Mr Di’Iasio invited the Mirror into the school to show how desperately funding is needed.
He has seen no sign of the promised levelling up or extra money for schools.
He says: “It’s hard to believe we are in the world’s sixth-largest economy.
“We are in a 1970s building and as we speak the rain is pouring down.
“I have no doubt that we will have more than five or six different leaks, with buckets in classrooms, by the end of the day. We are in a school where children will be cold and wet.
“This at a time when we are keeping windows open to allow airflow to prevent the spread of Covid, and the heating is working overtime to keep the temperature at a level you can work and learn in.
“Our site staff are brilliant at trying to make do and mend, but the building is creaking and when it rains the flat roof leaks. It has been patched up as much as it possibly can be.
“The building is not really fit for purpose and the environment can have a massive impact on learning.”
Mr Di‘Iasio is also dealing with the impact of Covid on his pupils’ mental health.
He says: “We are dealing with the fallout from that from a large number of students on a daily basis.
“Initially when the students came back they were just so happy to be back, but then things changed and they started exhibiting more extremes of behaviour than we had before.
“We had students turning up with alcohol, being under the influence.
“We had students who had the police in the house overnight dealing with incidents of domestic violence and we’ve had incidents where students have been suffering from the pressure of the exam process.
“We have spent our money making sure we keep our staff and have enough people to support the students.
“There is more money now invested in mental health support and wellbeing.”
The school stayed open the first week of the Christmas holidays so pupils could get hot meals.
All of the school’s reserves, £750,000, have now gone.
Mr Di‘Iasio says: “The students make the job worthwhile, they make every day a happy day. But it’s when you are looking at the budget and having to make really tough decisions about whether to keep that counsellor or that classroom assistant. They are the darkest days.
“But we love our school.”
About levelling up, Mr Di‘Iasio says: “I am massively in favour of the concept, but words are cheap and actions speak louder than words."
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We have invested £11.3 billion since 2015 to enable schools to refurbish their buildings, including £1.8 billion in 2021-22 alone.
"On top of this, our new ten-year School Rebuilding Programme to transform 500 schools is underway and will improve the education of tens of thousands of children as we level up across the UK.”
