Eleven Devon and Cornwall schools listed for improvement

Swimbridge Primary School will be moving to a new site

Eleven schools in Devon and Cornwall have been listed for rebuilding work by the government.

The schools, including Tiverton High School and Swimbridge Primary School in Devon, are on the School Rebuilding Programme.

Tiverton High School, which was built in 1959, has suffered a number of structural problems.

Swimbridge Primary will be moving to a new site after concerns about ground above the school moving down the hill.

Tiverton High School was built in 1959

Tipton St John Primary School, which has seen numerous incidents of flooding over the years, will get a new building under the School Rebuilding Programme, which the government says has invested more than £13bn to maintain and improve schools since 2015.

Built in 1843, Tipton St John Primary consists of two separate buildings, a lower site for younger pupils, and an upper facility for older students. Around 95 pupils currently attend the school.

However, the school has been hit by flooding in the past, with pupils even being evacuated due to the severity.

Such is the school's susceptibility to future flooding, the Environment Agency and the Department for Education have warned that lives could be at risk.

The Devon and Cornwall schools listed for improvements are:

Devon

• Dawlish College

• River Dart Academy, Totnes

• Swimbridge Church of England Primary School

• Tavistock College

• Tipton St John Church of England Primary School

• Tiverton High School

• Whipton Barton Infants and Nursery School

Cornwall

• Bodmin College

• Callington Community College

• Mawgan-In-Pydar Primary School, Newquay

• Poltair School, St Austell

Tipton St John Primary School has been flooded many times over the years

Jon Sowden, Tiverton High School's estate manager, told BBC Radio Devon in August that there were "large amounts of concrete crumbling" at the school, along with asbestos.

All external doors needed to be replaced, plaster was falling off and a roof was "crumbling away", he added.

Richard Foord, Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Honiton, said: "This is a moment the community has long been waiting for.

"I won't rest until there are shovels in the ground."

Selaine Saxby, Conservative MP for North Devon, said it had been a difficult time for staff and students at Swimbridge Primary and she was very pleased that the school would "have the new school it so clearly needs and deserves".

Colin Butler, executive headteacher of Tipton St John Primary School, said it was "such a relief to know that staff and pupils will never need to worry for the safety of all every time there is heavy rain" and he was delighted that the school had been listed for improvements.