CRUMBLING schools promised multi-million pound new buildings two years ago are still waiting for the first brick to be laid.
Parents and teachers are becoming increasingly frustrated – with some wondering if the work will ever start.
The Government announced its Priority Schools Building Programme in May 2012 and promised that three city and 15 county schools would be rebuilt. Yet Fountaindale School, near Mansfield, is the only one where work has started – despite the deadline for completion being 2017.
For some, contractors have been appointed, but others, such as Top Valley Academy, are still waiting.
This means thousands of children will have to put up with lessons in outdated classrooms which often suffer from problems such as broken boilers in the winter.
Anna Grant-Thomas, head teacher at Glenbrook Primary School, in Bilborough, said: "It is frustrating. I just want children at my school to have the best, but we are having to wait. I understand that there is a lot of work to go through before the work can start. But our building dates back to the 1950s. The extra cost it takes to heat the school could pay for another teacher for a year."
Springfield Primary in Bulwell is also on the waiting list. Mum Kerry Saunders, 29, attended the school herself two decades ago and now sends her eight-year-old son Mitchell there.
She said: "Nothing has changed since I came to the school. It still has the same smell. Children in this day and age should not have to come to schools which are so out-dated. More effort should be given to making sure these schools get their rebuilds."
The Department for Education confirmed that contractors had been identified for some schools, though no dates for the start of work have been confirmed. A spokesman said: "We are now working on the designs."
