Oldham headteacher frustrated by school's condition

Glyn Potts MBE, headteacher of Newman RC College, based on Broadway in Chadderton, posted online this morning (January 22) that neither the hot water nor heating was on when staff entered the school at 7am.

The school remained open, however students and staff have been working in difficult conditions.

The Newman RC College building is a Private Finance Initiative, meaning the college has no control over the management of the building, which is contractually managed by a third party.

Newman RC College in Chadderton (Image: Google Maps)

The only way for the school to raise concerns about the building's condition is to contact Oldham Council who lead on its behalf.

Now, Mr Potts said he would be writing to the council to raise concerns and ask them to take more "impactful" action on the building owners.

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In a letter to parents posted on the school's website, Mr Potts wrote: "On arrival in college this morning at 0700hrs, it was evident that the building had no hot water and that the heating had failed.

"At this stage, it is thought that a pipe has burst on the roof causing the failure."

Back in December, Newman RC College was forced to close for a day due to there being no heating or hot water, however Mr Potts said he kept the school open today in the hope "full functionality would be in place swiftly".

However, he said this had not happened.

Mr Potts praised the students for conducting themselves with "maturity and calmness" but said they were "rightly frustrated" with the conditions.

He added: "It is simply unacceptable that one institution remains plagued by so many failings and that a resolution has not yet been reached.

Glyn Potts, headteacher at Newman RC College (Image: Glyn Potts)

"I shall be writing to the council to raise our concerns and imploring them to take more stringent and impactful action toward the building owner, not just for the incident today but for the entire time that the college has been open."

This comes following a BBC Panorama investigation which has found schools up and down the UK are struggling to keep pupils warm in buildings which are not fit for purpose.

One of the schools included in the investigation was Russell Scott Primary School in nearby Denton, where headteacher Steve Marsland empties out buckets of water collected from leaks around the school whenever it rains.

Cllr Mohon Ali, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said: “I sympathise with Mr Potts and all those at Newman College. Students there should of course expect to have a safe and suitable building to use and the current situation is not acceptable.

“We are doing everything within our power to try and help with the building issues and continue to put pressure on where we can. Anything we can do we will to try and remedy the situation as soon as possible.”