£2 billion additional funding for school construction programme
The news came as the Whitmore Park Primary School in Coventry, the first school rebuilt under the programme, was opened.
Laws published an update on the government's commitment to build around 300 new schools and make improvements in almost 600 others, revealing that a second phase is now scheduled which will run from 2015 to 2021. Laws said that this was the biggest public effort to improve the schools estate in decades, and that the initiative was on track to meet its goal of improving 261 school buildings in very poor condition by the end of 2017.
He said: "The original Priority School Building Programme worked on the basis of the condition of the whole school site. We will now refine this to look at targeting individual school buildings, as well as whole school rebuilds where this is appropriate, so that the department can focus much more tightly on addressing specific issues in the estate."
Latest News
02/12/2025 - 10:19
Minister for School Standards, Georgia Gould is hosting nine face-to-face events, run in partnership with the Council for Disabled Children, and five online events.
02/12/2025 - 09:36
Counter Terrorism Policing London is urging parents to be vigilant about their children's online activity, with many buying phones and tablets for Christmas.
01/12/2025 - 10:30
The Scottish Government has announced the projects to receive a share of £12 million to help public buildings become more energy efficient and cut carbon emissions.
01/12/2025 - 10:20
All state primary school children in London have been offered free school meals since September 2023.
28/11/2025 - 09:38
Ofsted has confirmed plans to change inspections of local authorities’ children’s services (ILACS) in 2026 and 2027, including removal of overall effectiveness judgement from April 2026.
