The headteacher of Broomhill Junior School in Nottingham has condemned a council’s decision to demolish two classrooms as a “profound and wasteful mistake”.
The school, built in 1966, is currently undergoing a £10 million rebuild, funded by the Department for Education.
Included in the rebuild will be a dedicated special educational needs (SEN) corridor on the ground floor, with the number of SEN pupils set to rise from 58 to 70.
However, as part of the rebuild process, Nottinghamshire County Council has decided to demolish two classroom buildings that were built just 10 years ago, in 2016, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Its headteacher, Andrew Beckinsale-Yates, has now written an open letter to the authority demanding the protection of the two classroom buildings, which the school had hoped to use as an inclusion unit for children with SEN.
It could also be used to provide meeting space for local groups, adult education opportunities, a drop-in point for vulnerable families, and surgeries by key agencies.
The council said it had to consider the costs of repairing and maintaining the classrooms, as well as pupil numbers, and emphasised that a new play area would be built in their place.
In the letter, Mr Beckinsale-Yates expressed gratitude for the investment in the new school building but challenged plans to “waste significant public investment” in the demolition of two school buildings.
“I am deeply concerned by the decision by the local authority to demolish two existing teaching spaces that are already at the school and that could be used by the school as inclusion support,” Mr Beckinsale-Yates said.
“If demolished, this represents a return of £75,000 per year, which is not acceptable, as the building was built to be a permanent structure.”
In the mid-1990s, the council identified Broomhill as an expanding school, with student numbers expected to rise significantly.
As a result, two new classrooms opened in 2016, which Mr Beckinsale-Yates says cost £750,000.
He also raised concerns over the expected development of more than 2,000 homes in Hucknall, and he said that while school pupil numbers could dip in the short term, they may rise again in the future.
“In my time at Broomhill, the number on roll has fluctuated from below 150 to nearly 300; schools expect natural fluctuations,” he said.
“We currently have 274 children on roll, with 94 per cent occupancy. I am aware that, using LA projections, the roll is due to fall. However, this projection will not include children who join us during the year, and over the last few years, we have consistently had a net gain.
“Also, Hucknall is an area where significant housing development is planned. I want to have a school that is future-proofed for population growth.”
His letter adds: “Broomhill Junior School serves an area of significant deprivation. We serve one of the top five per cent most deprived wards in the country.
“Children come to us with significant barriers to their learning and low levels of literacy and numeracy.
“Keeping the building would enable us to continue to provide and further develop vital interventions that would be focused on providing support for the most vulnerable children and families in Nottinghamshire.
“I firmly believe this is a rare opportunity to create something genuinely impactful for generations to come. To lose it would be a profound and wasteful mistake.”
Sherwood Forest MP Michelle Welsh (Lab) said she was disgusted by the plans and described them as a waste of taxpayers’ money.
A county council spokesperson said: “It’s very good news that Broomhill Junior School will have a brand-new building, funded by the Department for Education.
“In light of these plans for a new school building, we had to decide whether the two classroom units would still be needed, so work started back in 2024 to carefully consider future pupil numbers, including SEND pupils.
“Costs to repair these classroom units, which would be a minimum of £65,000, and also maintain them were 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 in pupil numbers with SEND needs from 58 to 70.
“This recommendation to demolish these two classroom units was made very early on in the planning process, overseen by the Department for Education, and there were several opportunities for the school to raise any concerns.
“This includes a consultation which took place and several meetings we had with the school throughout the process.”
