A LIST is being drawn up of York primary schools which need rebuilding in a bid to secure £28 million.

City of York Council is compiling a list of primary schools from across the city most in need of work as they try to secure a cut from the Government's Building Schools for the Future programme.

The Government aim to have about half the city's 54 primary schools rebuilt or improved means that York should receive £28 million over the life of the 15-year programme.

Some schools will require full replacement, while others need to achieve their objectives through smaller capital expenditure.

Things which will be taken into consideration include issues such as available space, and it is proposed that all schools are given a score based on a list of elements that reflect their needs, their pupils and the community.

Every school currently has a baseline score that is used in the current prioritisation for the distribution of the Local Authority Formula Capital.

This is based on three surveys, "condition", "suitability" and "sufficiency". The "condition" survey is carried out by a professional building surveyor and covers all aspects of the physical state of the school.

The remaining two are completed by the schools and agreed with the Local Authority, "suitability" is about the barriers to raising standards imposed by the building and sufficiency' measures the number of pupil places available.

Weightings are used to push up the scores of popular schools where pupil numbers exceed the building capacity.

It is suggested that the baseline be used as the main criterion for prioritising schools, but that all of the surveys on which it is based are fully updated before the first listing is produced.

There are currently three federations in York Clifton with Rawcliffe, Derwent Infant and Juniors, and English Martyr's and Our Lady's RC in Acomb, each consisting of two schools under one head teacher.

It is recommended that each of the federations that have ambitions to amalgamate have a raised sector score to reflect their strategic importance to the authority.

A deprivation score will be produced, based on a range of indicators derived from the Government's Index of Multiple Deprivation.

In a report to the council, Maggie Tansley, head of Planning and Resources Learning, Culture and Children's Services, said: "In order to enable a detailed project plan for the school(s) with the highest priority to be worked up and agreed by the time primary programme funding is available, a prioritised list of primary schools will be presented for approval in the early summer this year."

The list will be discussed at the executive member for children's services advisory panel in the Guildhall on January 22.

Rebuilding bonanza

A YORK secondary school has already got funding from Building Schools for the Future.

In July last year, City of York Council secured money under the Government's 15-year, £45 billion Building Schools For The Future (BSF) programme, to rebuild Joseph Rowntree School, in New Earswick.

The funding offer, which could equate to more than £20 million, is subject to strict deadlines, including a requirement that the new school is open by September 2009. The council submitted a detailed proposal to the Department for Education last autumn.

As reported in The Press at the time, a council spokeswoman said analysis of all York schools showed Joseph Rowntree would require at least £3.2 million to bring its current facilities up to standard. She said the current buildings did not meet staff and student needs.