Wigan schools and colleges get share of £498m for refurbishment work

The Department for Education has announced a £498m investment in 1,405 projects at 1,129 academies, sixth-form colleges and voluntary aided schools across the country.

Among those benefiting from the Condition Improvement Fund are two colleges, two high schools and five primary schools in Wigan.

The money will pay for the urgent replacement of windows at St John Rigby College and electrical rewiring in the sports block and an old art block at Winstanley College.

Standish High School is getting two tranches of funding, which will cover electrical rewiring work and work on a pitched roof, while Fred Longworth High School will also spend money on its roof.

Golborne Primary School will use its funding for security and safeguarding, Leigh CE Primary School will do urgent repairs to external walls, and Atherton St George’s CE Primary School has funding for the refurbishment of toilets and alterations.

St Mark’s CE Primary School has been awarded money for two projects – the partial replacement of its heating system and electrical refurbishment – while Westleigh Methodist Primary School is getting funding for the urgent replacement of the school hall flooring and a new roof.

The fund aims to keep eligible academy, sixth-form college and voluntary aided school buildings safe and in good working order.

It also supports a small proportion of expansion projects for Ofsted-rated good or outstanding academies, sixth-form colleges and voluntary aided schools that need to expand their existing facilities to either increase the number of admissions in the main year of entry or address overcrowding.

As in previous rounds, the fund was heavily oversubscribed so only projects that demonstrated a high need for money could be funded.

Leigh MP James Grundy welcomed the funding announcement, with four of the successful applications coming from schools in his constituency.

He said: “I am delighted that these schools in my constituency have been awarded a significant amount of funding for refurbishment, especially given how much competition there was for this pot of money from across the UK.”