Crumbling primary school set to be rebuilt

A crumbling primary school that has been plagued with structural issues is set to be demolished and rebuilt.

A new vision would see the shoddy building and unusable sports facilities replaced by a modern, eco-friendly school with new sports and games pitches. 

Russell Scott Primary School in Denton appeared on BBC Panorama in 2024 revealing that teachers had to empty out buckets of water collected from leaks after it rained. Headteacher Steve Marsland told BBC Panorama at the time that this was just one of a number of issues the school, in Clare Street, has been battling for almost a decade.

These problems came after a disastrous multi-million-pound rebuild in 2015 when Carillion, the company contracted to carry out the repairs, left the 150-year-old school with a catalogue of new problems.

Due to the poor and unfinished construction works carried out by Carillion, which went bankrupt in 2018, the school faces significant structural problems. Flooding, fire safety defects and poor quality open space rendered unusable are all impacts from the failures from over a decade ago.

Last year Tameside council signed off on a scheme to bulldoze the current site and build a modern new education facility. Now a vision for what the new school could look like has been tabled.

The school, in conjunction with Tilbury Douglas and the Department for Education, ‘aspires to create a modern and sustainable education facility capable of meeting the diverse educational needs of its current and future pupils’.

Russell Scott primary currently caters for up to 472 pupils, but the rebuild won’t see the new school expand. The proposed new two-storey building will comprise classrooms, a nursery, a designated SEN unit, admin spaces, assembly hall, kitchen and other ancillary spaces. 

Also included in the plans are a new playing pitch provision, capable of accommodating a 5v5 football pitch, and high quality Multi Use Games Area (MUGA). 

Planning papers read: “At ground floor level, the building will include an assembly hall and activity studio, infant classrooms including nursery, reception, infants and the SEN block on the southern part of the building which will have its own access directly via the secondary pedestrian access point from Crown Point Retail Park.

“Each classroom has been carefully designed to ensure direct access is obtained to external play areas.

“At first floor level, the proposed school building will include the staffroom, junior classrooms, library and practical classroom. The junior classrooms have been designed back-to-back with a small group room in between to allow for break out spaces.

“The proposals also include rooftop solar PV panels and a green roof area (a bio-solar roof). A designated walkway will ensure suitable maintenance. The rooftop plant will also be situated in the area above the kitchen.”

To avoid placing pupils in temporary classrooms, the new school building will be constructed next to the existing building on the western part of the site. Once the new school building is complete, pupils will then transfer across to the facility, allowing the demolition of the former school building to commence at the end of the project.

The school was selected to benefit from the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) in December 2022. The SRP carries out major rebuilding and refurbishment projects at school and sixth-form college buildings across England, with buildings prioritised according to their condition.

Russell Scott School is identified within the top 10 per cent of Schools in the UK based on condition need.

How the new Russell Scott Primary School in Denton could look. Credit: Tameside Council Planning Documents