Summer holidays are a long way away at present and this may be an un-seasonal story but it is only a matter of time before an avalanche of complaints gains momentum about the government’s decision to discontinue the Summer Works Scheme.
The purpose of the Summer Scheme was to devolve funding to individual school authorities and it allowed them to undertake small-scale building works that were carried out during the school holidays in order to avoid disruption to students and teachers.
The scheme has now been discontinued and many people are predicting it will leave a great many schools in big trouble because, very often, the vital work carried out was necessary to meet health and safety standards for the children.
Apparently, some schools needing urgent repairs have already submitted their applications for next summer and have had their requests turned down because of the cutbacks.