'Sad decision': Southend school closes pool as it faces £500k repair bill

A SOUTHEND school has announced its swimming pool will close as it desperately tries to find half a million pounds to carry out expensive repairs.

The Portico Academy Trust wrote to parents at Hamstel Junior School and Hamstel Infant School yesterday to confirm it had taken the “sad decision” to close the pool at the end of the academic year.

The pool was not only used by pupils, but also rented out to the community to be used for evening and weekend swim classes as well as swim crash courses during the school holidays.

Trust CEO, Cheryl Woolf, has said that they hope this is only a temporary measure. However, the pool needs repairs ranging from stopping a leak running under the pool, improving the ventilation, and replacing the boilers.

Multiple attempts to secure funding to carry out the repairs have so far been unsuccessful.

Ms Woolf said: “We are hopeful that it is only a temporary measure however, the swimming pool needs a number of repairs that would cost in the region of £500,000.

“Over the past year we have submitted a number of bids to try and obtain grants.

“We have approached influential people and swimming organisations.

“All of our attempts to secure funding have been unsuccessful.”

The letter to parents added the trust is continuing to try to find avenues of funding to complete the urgently needed work and re-open the swimming pool for pupils and the public.

Headteachers are also exploring alternative locations for swimming lessons for the pupils at the school.

A spokesman for the trust said: “Work needed includes finding and stopping the leak running under it, improving the ventilation so that steam no longer obscures the view of teaching staff, replacing and enlarging the boilers and improving the chemical dosing system to cope with the number of swimmers.

The spokesman added that work is also needed to improve fire safety and “rebuild some areas of the building because of damage from damp” as well as work to improve the hygiene in the toilet areas and “much more.”