Bill for emergency repairs at Norfolk schools revealed

This comes at a time when the authority is struggling to plug a £45m spending gap.

Repairs are being done at 15 schools after the collapse of a ceiling triggered 60 emergency inspections at buildings Norfolk County Council is responsible for.

Those emergency inspections were commissioned after the partial collapse of a lath and plaster ceiling at the Synergy Education Trust-run Fakenham Junior School.

Fakenham Junior School (Image: Google Maps)

Ceilings constructed using plaster and lath can lose their structural integrity, particularly if they get wet, so work needs to be done to ensure they will be safe.

The council initially arranged inspections at 23 maintained schools where it knew the material was present.

Those inspections were then extended to a further 37 schools where it was thought the age of the buildings meant lath and plaster could be present.

That led to an emergency three-day closure at Norwich's Avenue Junior School after issues with the ceilings of six classrooms were discovered.

And a classroom at Parkside School, also in the city, was shut for a day.

The Parkside School in Norwich (Image: Angela Sharpe)

Those two schools are among the 15 where further work is being done, with temporary classrooms put in place at Avenue Junior School while it is carried out.

A council spokeswoman said: "Repair work is under way in many of the schools and in some cases schools are using alternative spaces as classrooms and managing the logistics around the need for repairs.

"In the case of Avenue Junior, we have brought in temporary classrooms.

Woodton Primary School (Image: Google Maps)

"Woodton is a small school with two classrooms, which are both affected. This is why they have temporarily moved to the village hall."

The county council recently revealed £33m of proposed cuts and savings - including turning off more street lights, increased parking changes, spending less on library books - to plug a £45m budget gap.

And, with the school repair bills estimated to be more than £100,000, that adds further pressure on the council's coffers.

Penny Carpenter, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for children's services (Image: Norfolk Conservatives)

Penny Carpenter, cabinet member for children services, said the Conservative-controlled council will be writing to the Department for Education to highlight the "additional financial pressure" it will place on the school capital budget.

The 15 schools affected are: 

Avenue Junior School, Norwich

The Parkside School, Norwich

Freethorpe Community Primary and Nursery School 

Bacton Primary School 

Brooke VC CE Primary School 

Hainford VC Primary School 

Woodton Primary School 

Horning Community Primary School 

Ludham Primary School and Nursery 

Terrington St. John Primary School 

Tilney St. Lawrence Community Primary School 

Ellingham CE VC Primary School 

Walpole Highway Primary School 

St George’s Primary & Nursery  School, Great Yarmouth

Hevingham Primary School 

Schools run by academies have been urged to carry out their own checks.