St Neots Longsands school 'crumbling around students' - councillor

Unions are balloting for industrial action at Longsands Academy

A secondary school "feels like it is being held together by a thread", according to a district councillor.

Lara Davenport-Ray raised the concerns about Longsands Academy in St Neots at a Cambridgeshire County Council committee meeting.

The school was "crumbling around the students", she said.

An Astrea Academy Trust spokesperson said Longsands had received £2.9m capital investment since 2018 and was "a safe school environment".

Green Party St Neots East councillor Lara Davenport-Ray described students who told her they avoided the "filthy" toilets

Green Party Huntingdonshire district councillor Ms Davenport-Ray said "the site feels like it is being held together by a thread", as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

One Longsands student told her "the school feels really dirty, especially the toilets" and she did not like using a new set of loos because "you are too visible for others".

Another avoided drinking to avoid the "filthy" unisex toilets, Ms Davenport-Ray told the county council's children and young people committee.

The trust, which runs four schools in Cambridgeshire, was the "most popular topic" raised with her by people in St Neots, she added.

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Their concerns fall into three areas - the school's behaviour policy; the class sizes "following the departure of many staff"; and the "deteriorating school facilities".

In January, head teacher Dr Catherine Cusick admitted the school had lost 28 teachers in 12 months, while unions consulted teachers over strike action.

Staff told the BBC that on at least two occasions this term, groups of up to 90 students had been supervised by staff in the main hall while they worked from text books.

Ms Davenport-Ray asked the county council, which is run by a joint administration of Liberal Democrats, Labour and independent members, what it would do to support Longsands students.

She would receive a reply within 10 working days, the committee chair told her.

The Astrea spokesperson said the government had rejected its application for the school to receive funds from the school rebuilding programme.

The £2.9m capital expenditure had been spent on "critical operational and condition needs" including upgrading a heating system, fire doors and a new kitchen, the trust said.