Concern over classroom demolition plans

A head teacher has urged councillors to scrap plans to knock down two classrooms at his school.

Nottinghamshire County Council plans to demolish the building, which cost £750,000 to build at Broomhill Junior School in Hucknall 10 years ago.

The school is currently undergoing a £10m government-funded rebuild, but Andrew Beckinsale-Yates said he was "deeply concerned" about the decision to knock down the two classrooms, which are separate from the main school.

The authority said the capacity of the rebuild meant the classrooms were not needed and the cost of repairs to the existing building were also a factor in the decision.

Beckinsale-Yates disagreed with this however and said in his 32 years as head teacher, pupil numbers had fluctuated and he wanted a school that was future proofed for population growth.

"They may not be needed next year, but they will be needed in the future," he said.

"Numbers on roll with children; it comes cyclically, it comes round and round and round, sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down and as a head teacher schools recognise that."

Beckinsale-Yates said the school, for children aged seven to 11, wanted to use the classrooms as a specialist inclusion support unit in the future, after earlier this year the government unveiled plans to make mainstream schools more inclusive for pupils with special educational needs.

"When we heard how important inclusion was going to be in education, we thought this was an ideal opportunity to offer an inclusion base for all of our children and children in the wider community too," he said.

In a open letter, Beckinsale-Yates said the decision was made "without any consultation" with the school and that they were given "no opportunity to present our plans, outline community need, or demonstrate the significant value this building can offer".

He added the school would meet the cost of any repairs or refurbishments needed for the classrooms and their retention would allow the school to become a "real community inclusion hub" and expand its provision for the most vulnerable.

Michelle Welsh, Labour MP for Sherwood Forest, has written to the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council urging a rethink.

"Three quarters of a million pounds of taxpayers money less than 10 years ago and now they want to spend even more thousands of pounds to demolish them. It makes no sense," she said.

"We have a well respected head teacher that has been working for this school for many many years. He knows his school, he knows his community.

"He's said he needs this classroom. The school staff have said they need this classroom."

A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire County Council said the existing units would not be needed long-term due to the planned capacity of the new building.

The spokesperson said: "In light of these plans, we had to decide whether the two classroom units would still be needed, so work started back in 2024 to carefully consider future pupils numbers, including SEND pupils.

"Costs to repair these classroom units (which would be a minimum of £65k) and also maintain them was also factored in, given that we have to be practical and look at the school site in the long-term.

"We of course have a responsibility to maintain other school buildings across the county, so we always have to carefully manage budgets.

"Therefore, it was concluded that these units will not be needed in the long-term due to the planned capacity of the new school, which includes an increase of pupils with SEND needs from 58 to 70."

The spokesperson added that the recommendation for demolition was made "very early on" in the planning process and the school had "several opportunities" to raise concerns during consultation and in "several meetings".

The council said the space occupied by the classrooms was earmarked for a new outdoor play area.

A timetable for the demolition, which is being led by the Department for Education has yet to be decided, a spokesperson for the county council said.

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