The Department for Education and Employment (DFEE) has just confirmed an allocation of £1.95 million to be spent on Warwickshire school buildings as part of the Government’s New Deal for Schools initiative. This will allow the following vital work to be carried out:

Wood End Primary School

The old Edwardian wing of this school caught fire and was completely destroyed in August last year. An allocation of £341,000 plus the insurance settlement means that the destroyed building can be replaced by a modern building more suitable to meet the needs of pupils in the 21^st century.

Blythe Special School

A grant of £426,500 has been allocated to improve the buildings at Blythe Special School in Coleshill which accommodates about 60 pupils of all ages with severe profound and multiple learning difficulties. Additional teaching accommodation will be provided to allow special area for the post 16 students to acquire life skills and other accommodation in the school to be greatly improved.

Replacement Boilers

Replacement boilers are to be provided at 15 Warwickshire schools as a result of the £1.1 million grant. Many of these boilers were originally installed in the 1960s and early 1970s and are now at high risk of breakdown.

Eric Wood, County Education Officer, said

"We are delighted to have additional capital investment in our schools. I am sure that improved buildings help to drive up standards of learning. The grants for Wood End and Blythe are particularly welcome in this respect. The new boilers should remove the risk of school closures when heating systems break down and money will be diverted from expensive reactive maintenance to projects which improve the learning environment.

"This is good news for Warwickshire."