Lunch in the library and PE in the cloakroom: Aylesbury school's hall given green light for use after mysterious four month delay

The school hall at Bearbrook Combined School has been out of order since October 2018 due to an issue with the roof.

Parents assumed the hall would be fixed over the Christmas break but found it was still out of order at the start of the new year.

Bearbrook Combined were stuck between a rock and a hard place as they needed the county council to take action.

Ironically, the school received news that the hall could be used again on the same day as The Bucks Herald first spoke with a concerned mum.

Parent Sam Coffey said: "My youngest daughter is in reception and has never done PE since September or been in an assembly because there’s no hall to do it in.

"Meanwhile my other daughter in year one is doing PE in the computer area/cloakroom!

"All the children have been eating their lunches in the library and classrooms and it’s an absolute nightmare!

"Even the after school and breakfast club is being run in the library and classrooms, which I have now stopped my children going to because they were so bored there."

The school's Christmas concert was held in the playground while the Halloween disco was cancelled completely.

During the hall's closure Sam switched her children to packed lunches instead of the free school meals they had previously - hitting her in the pocket.

She said: "The kids who have a packed lunch just sit and eat in the classroom, but the kids who have school dinners have to line up and by the time they’ve got their lunch they don’t get enough time to eat it all and are coming out starving!"

On January 11, the school sent a letter to parents saying that the hall could now be re-opened.

We asked Bucks County Council the reason for the closure and they replied with this statement: "The safety of all pupils and staff is Buckinghamshire County Council’s ultimate priority and therefore inspections needed to take place, whilst solutions were also being explored, to assess whether the hall could be used.

"As a result of these actions, the local authority has confirmed in writing to the school that the hall is safe to use for activities excluding ball games.

"Plans are in place to ensure that the hall is returned to full use as soon as possible."