Liverpool school to reopen to pupils after ‘precautionary’ closure

The issue was located on one of the four school sites

A Liverpool school supporting children with special educational needs was forced to close after mould was discovered inside classrooms. After shutting its doors last Friday, Princes School’s Picton site is to reopen to youngsters from tomorrow morning.

Currently, pupils at the existing Princes School spread across four sites including a main location in Toxteth. Its Picton site is located on Old Mill Road and has previously been described as being in poor condition by city council education officials. Col Hughes, headteacher at Princes Primary School, confirmed doors were closed last week as a “precautionary measure.”

It is understood this was due to a “prolonged period” of cold, wet weather over Christmas when the school was not heated.

The current locations for the Princes school are in “poor condition” and are “not suited to the complex needs of the pupils or the growing demand of the service needs to provide sufficient places within the city for pupils with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).” The main Princes School on Selborne Street and Picton site provides education for primary age pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) and autism.

They are described as being “nearing the end of their functional life” but remain safe to use for the time being. An assessment by the city council said some key building services have failed and there has been additional expense for the council keeping the buildings open.

Parents were informed by Mr Hughes on Friday that the school was to close. In a letter seen by the ECHO, he said senior officials from Liverpool Council had been updated and a long-term solution was being sought.

In a statement, Mr Hughes said: “I can confirm that we decided to close the school on Friday last week as a precautionary measure due to the discovery of mould in a couple of our classrooms pending further investigation. We believe this has occurred due to a prolonged period of cold, wet weather over the festive period while the school has been unheated.

“We did not take this decision lightly, but the health and wellbeing of our students is our utmost priority. Work has been carried out over the weekend to install a new boiler and a deep clean was carried out yesterday to resolve the issue.

“Following further inspections from the local authority’s Health and Safety team today, we can confirm the school can safely reopen tomorrow. This is a new issue and is unrelated to any ongoing construction work on site or previous issues we’ve had with our buildings.”

A formal planning application was lodged for the creation of a brand new £40m school to support the growing number of children with ECHPs. The local authority is preparing to build a new site for around 250 pupils on long-derelict land off Princess Drive.

This would bring together youngsters from all of the existing Princes School locations into one space. Mr Hughes said the closure last weekend highlighted the need for upgrades.

He added: “However, it does further highlight the importance of needing to move our school into a new, modern facility.

“I’m pleased to say our proposed £40m school supported by Liverpool Council is currently going through the planning process and we’re aiming to be in our school within the next couple of years.”