School posed ‘serious health and safety concerns’

PUPILS and staff at a Dublin community college were forced to operate for a number of years in conditions that posed ‘serious health and safety concerns’, a school inspection team has found.

During their visit to Balbriggan Community College in October 2006, inspectors found a section of the school was so damp that the water on the surface of the walls made it impossible to hang teachers’ materials or students’ work.

Tiling on the floors was cracked and broken, windows had to be boarded up to prevent noise from the street, and the skylights had to be boarded up as they were leaking.

There was no extractor fans in the materials rooms, leading in the inspectors’ view, to atmospheric pollution from the materials.

Furthermore, the only drinking water available to students was from the gym and from the staff room.

“Teachers are highly commended for their resilience and dedication to learning in such facilities,” the inspectors said. “The maintenance of the school buildings, even those which are in very poor condition and the cleanliness of the environment are a tribute to the school.”

The section of the building that was condemned by the inspectors was built in 1952 and a second more modern section was added in 1984.

A spokesman for the school said they had been forced to put up with the substandard conditions for a number of years.

However, he said the old building had been gutted in June and €1 million is being spent to renovate it over the next two summers.

The report on Balbriggan Community College was just one of 176 released by the Department of Education yesterday.

In general, the reports on the schools were favourable although there were issues raised in a number of cases on the standard of accommodation, the way the schools were managed and the way in which certain subjects were taught.

Following the publication of the reports, John White, Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland general secretary, said: “Irish teachers are subject to a public form of scrutiny and accountability which is unique to the Irish public sector.

“School inspections are merely a snapshot in time and many teachers would question whether inspectors are fully attuned to all of the difficulties of the modern classroom.

“The manifestation of all the problems of society in the classroom is exacerbated by the fact that many classes contain between 25 and 30 young adolescents and in some cases there are more than 30 pupils in a class.

“The Asti continues to monitor the process of inspection and will be discussing aspects of this with the inspectorate.

“It is appropriate that a whole school inspection considers all the major aspects of a school community including the standard of the physical environment and the educational resources available to pupils and teachers,” he said.