A SCHOOL is having to sacrifice valuable funds so its pupils can play warm inside, after officials condemned its sports hall as a danger.

Children at Lampton School are having difficulty meeting the demands of their GCSE physical education curriculum after their sports hall was condemned earlier this year.

The Lampton Avenue school's headteacher, Sue John, closed the hall in January this year and arranged for its demolition after a previous inspection revealed its frame had twisted. She said: "I decided to take it out of operation in January because we could see it moving. It's an awful building, we have no idea when or how it will be demolished but it's going to be a big job.

"It's not fit for the purpose it was built for. The skeleton's twisted and the building flexes it's colder inside than it is outside. There have been times when icicles were hanging from the roof inside and you can't have children in those conditions."

Instead the school has been forced to commit £1,800 a term from its budget to pay for the use of recreational facilities at nearby Brunel University.

Repeated calls for help from Hounslow Council have fallen on deaf ears. Mrs John said: "The local education authority don't have the money or resources for capital building. Since the first engineer's report the council's answer has been, 'there's no money'."

The school now plans to bid for part of a £1.5 million borough-wide New Opportunities Fund to finance the development of a new community sports hall and are calling for the council to support its fundraising quest.

"Our message for Hounslow is if you can't provide the money then we would expect your support.

"I think they will accept that for a school this size the facilities are too small.

"We believe there needs to be a programme for sport for the whole borough and we think a new sports hall would be a very exciting addition."

Deputy head, Norman Lawrence, added: "Lessons have turned, essentially, into theory classes. If youngsters have a wet morning and a wet afternoon, they need somewhere to get out and run off their energy otherwise they spend all their time pent up."

Although an LEA spokesman said it was unlikely the school would receive a bulk payment from this year's £1.5 million fund, he did add that the council would help its fundraising efforts and support it in next April's New Opportunities Fund applications.