New mayor must act on crumbling school crisis

THE next mayor of North Tyneside has been urged to act on a crumbling schools crisis which election rivals have been warned is only adding to young people's mental health worries.

- AUSTEN SHAKESPEARE

Weak concrete was uncovered at Fordley Primary School in 2023 following a partial ceiling collapse and similar faults were then found at Hazlewood Community Primary, Churchill Community College, and Grasmere Academy.

At the height of the issue, which is not caused by the RAAC problem that has affected many public buildings, around 1,700 pupils were disrupted with schools either partially or completely shut.

While all classes are now back in face-to-face learning, some in temporary modular buildings, the Department for Education (DfE) has not yet committed to awarding any cash for repair works. At a special hustings event on Tuesday, the seven candidates competing in the borough's May 1 mayoral election were asked what they would do to resolve the crisis and improve young people's mental health.

Grace Hogan, a sixth form student at St Thomas More school, told the debate that one in five young people have a probable mental health condition identifying school construction defects and a lack of funded school counsellors as part of the problem.

Liberal Democrat candidate John Appleby said the country had a "massive problem with underinvestment in infrastructure" and called for a "very rapid review saying what is the state of play, where are the most serious problems, and what can we do within the budget"