A HEADTEACHER is fed up with drug use outside his special needs school and is calling for a new building.

Paul Yeomans is desperate to get out of the Riversides School site in Spring Gardens, near City Walls Road, Worcester.

He claims drug users dump their syringes outside the school and some people walk past and take pictures of his pupils in the playground.

The executive principal claims the county council backtracked on an agreement that the building would serve as a temporary site for the school.

Mr Yeomans demanded a new building for the school at a Worcestershire County Council meeting on Thursday, July 13.

He said: "There's a methadone clinic opposite... and there's been drug use happening around the school.

"The concern is that a kid could pick it up. These are the most vulnerable kids in the county.

"We are the only special needs school in the county that hasn't had a purpose-built school."

Mr Yeomans added that there have been cases of people taking pictures of the pupils.

"People can see into the playground and they have taken photos of the children," he said.

"The school garden is openly visible from the footbridge...anyone can take photos."

Riversides School has also 'blacked out' the windows in one of its classrooms, which is next to a footpath.

"It's black inside, it's quite a depressing teaching environment. We do change lives in this building but we could change more lives," Mr Yeomans said.

Ms Hayward, executive principal of the school, said: "It's all artificially lit. This is a great place to grow mushrooms but not kids.

"We want the county council to give us some help. They said yesterday 'you are an academy, it's not our problem'.

"We are saying you can't step back. Make sure our children are safe first.

"They gave us this building. We have the county council saying take it to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

"And them [the ESFA] saying we don't qualify for capital investment as we are part of a trust which has other schools in it which are fine."

The school moved into the building in 2013 as a 'temporary solution' to increasing demand in the city, according to Ms Hayward.

But she claims the council has gone back on an agreement to find the school a long-term site after they converted into an academy in 2014.

She added that the school playground looks like a prison and said pupils cannot bounce balls in the gym because it is on the second floor.

The school is for children aged between nine and 11 who suffer from special needs and also has another site in Thorneloe Road, Worcester.

Cllr Marcus Hart, Worcestershire County Council's cabinet member for education and skills, said the council is focused on improving outcomes for all children.

"Our ambition is to see more children and young people achieving their full potential in education and being fully prepared to live happy and healthy adult lives," he said.

"Riversides School in Worcester is an academy. The school is not therefore under our control so regrettably we are not in a position to enable Riversides to move into a new building. 

"Any request for a new building will need to be considered by the Education Funding Agency, who manage the funding for academies."