Scholarships for 60 girls finishing secondary school in Mali
$18,240
41% funded
Education
A working science lab for Broadfield Secondary 700 students
Two of the four labs have been condemned since the gas survey. Seven hundred students are sharing what is left, and practical work has all but stopped.
Organised by
Broadfield School Trust
Two labs closed, seven hundred students
A gas safety survey in February closed two of Broadfield Secondary's four science labs. The pipework dates from the 1971 build, the isolation valves failed inspection, and the surveyor was unambiguous: they cannot be used until the services are replaced.
Seven hundred students now share two labs. In practice that means a Year 9 class doing an experiment once a fortnight instead of twice a week, and a Year 11 cohort heading into practical assessments having done a fraction of the required work. The teachers are compensating with demonstrations at the front of the room, which is not the same thing and everyone in the building knows it.
What the refurbishment involves
Stripping both rooms back to the walls, replacing gas, water and electrical services throughout, and refitting with sixteen student benches and a demonstration bench in each. We are also adding a prep room between the two labs, which the school has never had — technicians currently prepare experiments in a corridor cupboard, which is both absurd and a genuine safety issue.
- Both rooms stripped, with new gas, water, drainage and electrical services throughout.
- Thirty-two student benches, two demonstration benches and proper fume extraction.
- A shared prep room, which the school has never had in fifty-four years.
- Work scheduled across two summer holidays so no further teaching time is lost.
The costed breakdown
The trust has committed £46,000 from its own capital reserve and secured a £30,000 grant. This campaign covers the remainder, and the figures come from a quantity surveyor rather than from us.
- £44,000 — Services replacement in both rooms Gas, water, drainage and a new electrical distribution. This is the work that actually reopens the labs.
- £33,600 — Benching, fume cupboards and fixed furniture Thirty-two student positions, two teacher benches and two fume cupboards to the current standard.
- £21,000 — Prep room construction and fit-out Partitioning the store between the two labs, with a hatch into each and proper chemical storage.
- £14,300 — Asbestos survey, removal and making good Known to be present in the 1971 ceiling void. Removal is licensed work and non-negotiable.
- £9,700 — Equipment replacement Microscopes, balances and glassware. Much of the current stock predates the students' parents.
- £4,800 — Professional fees and contingency Quantity surveyor, building control and a five per cent contingency on a fifty-four-year-old building.
A Year 11 told her chemistry teacher that she had never once lit a Bunsen burner. She is applying to study pharmacy.
Who is behind this
Broadfield School Trust runs four schools in West Yorkshire and two partner schools abroad. Helen Okonkwo, who leads the trust, taught science for nineteen years and has been through two lab refurbishments from the teacher's side, which is why the prep room is in this budget rather than being cut first. Every figure has been through the trust's finance committee and the school's governing body, and the full quantity surveyor report is available to anyone who asks for it.
Risks and challenges
Asbestos is the risk that could move this budget, and we have been deliberately conservative: the survey confirms presence in the ceiling void of both rooms, but the extent will only be fully known once the ceilings are down. We hold a contingency for that and the trust has agreed to underwrite an overrun up to £15,000 from reserves rather than pausing the work half-finished. The second risk is scheduling — the work must fit inside the summer holidays, and a contractor overrunning would mean a term with one lab instead of two. We have written a liquidated damages clause into the contract for exactly that reason. If the campaign falls short, we do one lab properly rather than two badly.
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