Crumbling college 'needs cash now'

That's the message from the governors whose chairman, Robert Brandley, says they will campaign 'as strongly as need be' to secure funding for improvements.

'The fabric of the two sites is in very bad condition and needs major investment,' he said. 'We have got a number of temporary classrooms which are literally falling apart. Our caretaking staff cannot even secure windows because there is no solid wood to secure them to.

'There is extensive painting which needs doing because there is bare wood showing. Because of the weather in Seaford there is a lot of brickwork which needs pointing work. Really, it just needs a massive financial injection.

'On the Arundel Road site, many of the classrooms are small and inappropriate and we feel we deserve a major investment from East Sussex County Council.

'The crux of it is the longer we leave it the worse it will get. The window frames will rot and it will mean major capital investment to put things right. We need investment right away.'

A senior county council officer visited the college last week but there is a long waiting list of secondary schools in need of refurbishment.

'They said there are other secondary schools which need attention more than we do but that does not detract from the fact we need money now,' said Mr Brandley.

SHCC had a maintenance budget but this was very tight, he said, and there was no money in college funds for them to undertake the repairs themselves.

He added: 'The indications are that there will be no possible funding until 2013. By that time the school will not be able to function.

'I think the governors are committed to campaign as strongly as need be to ensure the fabric of the buildings is brought up to the correct standard that pupils, parents and staff would expect. People have expectations that it is the county council's responsibility.

The college was awarded specialist status in February which brings with it an immediate 100,000 from the Department for Education and Skills and then a further 129,000 a year for the next four years.

The school will eventually have a state of the art science laboratory, information community technology suite and dance studio which will benefit local primary schools and the wider community which will be able to use the facilities.

A county council spokesman said: 'We have got a positive relationship with the college and although there is no additional funding available we have had very fruitful discussions with them on how they can most effectively prioritise the use of their existing funding for repairs and maintenance.

'We also talked about how it could use the additional funding it will receive under the specialist status. We have also talked to them about the government's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme.'

BSF is the biggest single government investment in improving school buildings for more than 50 years. The aim is to rebuild or renew every secondary school in England over a 10-15 year period.

It targets the worst affected schools in deprived areas first '“ of which SHCC is not.