Nazareth House Primary School in Londonderry closes over roof concerns

A school in Londonderry has closed temporarily due to concerns about its roof.

The Education Authority (EA) confirmed on Wednesday that Nazareth House Primary School on Bishop Street had closed following an inspection of the building.

Meetings are ongoing to address the matter.

“Yesterday some building experts came into our school to check the roof and unfortunately they discovered the roof isn’t very safe and as soon as I heard that I asked about the safety of all of our children under the roof,” Principal Róisín Blackery told the school, in a video message.

“We decided the building experts need to do a wee bit more work and a bit more checking before we know what is safe for you.”

The principal added that there will be “big, big meetings happening” on Wednesday “with big bosses in different areas of education and lots of people are trying to figure out a way to get us all back together as soon as possible”.

The EA said it was urgently prioritising remedial works to allow the school to reopen as soon as possible.

“This is unfortunately the latest example of children’s education being disrupted due to deterioration in the school estate,” it added.

The EA said it was “deeply concerned” at the growing school maintenance and repair backlog across Northern Ireland due to lack of funding for the education sector.

“As a result of current budgetary restrictions, we are only able to carry out emergency maintenance works,” a spokesperson said.

“This is an increasingly unsustainable position.

“Without significantly increased levels of funding, school buildings will continue to decline, increasing the potential for further disruption to classes.”