Schools and councils across England need to spend more than £1,000 per pupil on school repairs over the next five years. Olivia Richwald speaks to one headteacher battling crumbling classrooms.

THERE are 16 mobile classrooms of various ages at Durham Johnston Comprehensive School. For many years, the school has been labelled with the odd distinction of achieving some of the best results locally and nationally - in some of the most appalling conditions.

Headteacher Carolyn Roberts said: "We reached a stage some years ago when even the mobiles were falling apart.

"The sixth form was the fifth best in the country last year, but the sixth form study centre is in a converted cloakroom."

For many years, school bosses petitioned Durham County Council to improve conditions for pupils - but because the school was academically achieving and was not in a deprived area, Durham Johnston slipped down the priority list.

Meanwhile, its pupils have continued to study - and achieve - in appalling conditions on two separate sites, two-and-a-half miles apart.

Then, last year, the state of the school became an election issue and the county council announced that the school was in such a bad condition it could not wait any longer, and it set out plans to build a new £25m school on one site.

Mrs Roberts said: "It is the best thing that could have happened to us. The state of a school building reflects how seriously a school takes learning."

Crumbling schools is a national problem. The most recent Government figures reveal a staggering £1,070 schools repair bill per pupil in England over the next five years.

The situation in this region is even worse. The figure in Newcastle is £2,254 -the second worst in England.

It is £1,849 per pupil in Middlesbrough, £1,422 in Darlington and £1,349 in County Durham.

Gateshead, Sunderland and Hartlepool fare better than the national average.

In Darlington, a recent council report showed that almost £400,000 needed to be spent repairing Branksome Comprehensive School this financial year.

To ensure the health and safety of pupils, the school, which is in special measures, needs new windows, new ventilation, new electrical equipment, a new water distribution system and roof and floor repairs.

Back at Durham Johnston, Mrs Roberts explained some of the problems associated with a crumbling school: "We have constant problems. We have science labs and technology lessons in mobile classrooms and we do not have enough toilet facilities for our young people.

"There is nowhere for pupils to go when it is raining; the options are to go outside or stand in the corridors.

"We have had to close the school in the past because of difficulties with the roof and dilapidated heating systems."

The Government has said that investment in school buildings will have risen from £683m in 1996/7 to £6.3bn by 2007/8.

However, The Northern Echo's figures show the school repairs bill has more than doubled in the past decade.

Perhaps only in another ten years - when the multi-billion pound Building Schools for the Future programme, has seen new schools and academies spring up across the country - will the school repairs bill finally fall.

However, in Durham City, the new Durham Johnston will open on the school's main site in Crossgate Moor in September 2008.

Mrs Roberts said: "We are really looking forward to being rebuilt.

"And we are now looking at the impact on our children of moving from our classrooms into warm and dry conditions."