School leaders have called on Wales’ new Plaid Cymru government to do the right thing by children and invest urgently in their education.

Welsh schools are facing ‘demoralising choices’ between cuts to staffing and provision, school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru says.

At the same time, the union warns that many school buildings are in a shocking condition, with more than half (51%) of its Welsh members who took part in a new survey reporting that they had buildings or areas that were out of use or not fit for purpose.

Yet more than nine in ten (91%) leaders said they did not receive sufficient funding to maintain their school’s buildings and estate.

Laura Doel, national secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru, said: “Schools are facing really severe funding pressures, and some are struggling with growing deficits.

“There are many pressures contributing to this, from the increasing numbers of pupils with additional learning needs (ALN), a funding postcode lottery, rising costs and the extra demands landing with schools after investment in health and social care failed to keep pace with demand.

“Many are facing demoralising choices between cutting teachers and teaching assistants, or wider educational provision - and between spending money on books or bricks.

“The simple truth is that schools are not getting the money they need to consistently deliver for pupils or even to maintain a safe and inspiring learning environment in some cases.

“At their spring conference Plaid spoke about getting back to basics when it came to education - what could be more basic than ensuring schools have sufficient funding?

“Now they have a golden opportunity to do the right thing and provide the urgent investment schools and children need.”

While acknowledging the new administration would face competing demands, Ms Doel said that there was a clear opportunity for Plaid to ‘right a wrong’ when it came to education after it was confirmed last month that Wales would receive a further £555m in so-called ‘consequential funding’ from the UK government over the next three years.

That has been driven partly by significant increases in funding for pupils with additional needs in England.

Ms Doel said that during the 2026/27 budget process, the outgoing Welsh Government failed to give schools their fair share of consequential funding.

If offered an extra £113m to councils, but there are no guarantees that will come to schools, which face a huge £137m shortfall in budgets this financial year according to the Welsh Local Government Association.

Ms Doel added: “The additional consequential funding announced means Plaid now have an open goal to deliver a quick win for schools and right the wrong which saw them fail to receive anywhere near enough of the extra funding which previously came to Wales.

“We know the new Welsh Government will face difficult financial decisions, but little is more important than children’s learning and wellbeing, and the life chances that flow from those.”

Alluding to the results of NAHT’s capital funding survey, she noted that Plaid’s manifesto had promised to survey the condition of the school estate.

But she said: “That might offer a more comprehensive picture but ultimately it will only tell us what we already know from our own conversations with school leaders – that new funding is needed to better maintain and to refurbish and rebuild schools.

“No child should have to learn in some of the conditions laid bare in our survey, it really is appalling.”

More than 9 in 10 Welsh leaders (93%) who had areas closed or not fit for purpose told NAHT there was basic building infrastructure like windows, roofs and doors which was unfit for purpose, while 2% reported having such facilities which were out of use. 72% of them said toilet blocks were not fit purpose (70%) or closed (2%), with 64% reporting classrooms and 63% specialist facilities for ALN like dedicated classrooms, sensory rooms and outdoor spaces as being unfit. 3% of affected leaders said ALN facilities were out of use.

Playgrounds were most likely to be reported as being closed - by 8% of leaders who had areas out of use or unfit for purpose.

Notes to Editors

• NAHT carried out the capital funding survey from February 2-16 this year – it was completed by 127 school leaders in Wales.

• Leaders were also asked whether over the last three years they had received sufficient capital funding to develop their school's buildings and estate to meet the needs of all their pupils. 98% said they had not.

• In addition, they were asked whether their school received the capital funding needed to undertake work on improving its energy efficiency and sustainability - 74% said funding hadn’t been sufficient. 

Quotes from Welsh school leaders on the condition of their estate

‘We’ve been in a six-figure deficit for the last three years. We have cut all of the budget lines to try and balance the budget and we’ve accepted voluntary reductions and redundancies with not replacing posts. We now have £1,000 in our repairs and maintenance budget and that is for absolute emergencies. We are a large school with over 400 pupils - £1,000 won’t cover an inch of the site. We have single-glazed windows, old and worn carpets with tape taping down edges. Our furniture is over 30 years old and Estyn raised this during our inspection last year. That’s just one example, we’ve cut every line in the budget in the same way as repairs and maintenance.’

‘Our school is slowly but surely rotting away. With every passing winter - every storm, every period of wet and rainy weather - the leaks are getting bigger and more numerous, the drains are overflowing, the playgrounds, pavements and road surfaces on site are crumbling beneath our feet. It's like what's said about the proliferation of food banks in our society as 'left behind food for left behind people' - we now have broken buildings for forgotten children. This is no way to raise and educate our most cherished resource in the 21st century. We should be ashamed as a country.’

‘Our school is in poor condition. Particularly the 1960s sections. We have leaking windows, damp in at least one classroom, and awful pupil toilets/urinals.’

‘With an older school building, any capital funding is quickly spent due to necessary repairs. I am forecasting a deficit budget and have been asked by my finance business partner to only have the most necessary repairs done - all the repairs are necessary. The roof needs replacing, windows need replacing, we have crumbling external boundary walls and an old heating system prone to faults and expensive costs. We cannot afford to ‘save’ for decoration and luxuries.’

‘For my ageing building my maintenance has increased tremendously to insure the health and safety of all pupils, staff and visitors. Estyn made a recommendation about our car park in the view of a safeguarding issue. This has not been addressed and as a school we have no money to deliver.’

‘My school has failing concrete, broken fencing around the perimeter and flooring that needs replacing.’

‘Although our building is only eight years old, it needs a new roof, all doors need to be rehung, the boiler system is now failing, and the number of ‘snagging’ jobs that still haven’t been done is exhausting. The impact on our budget is therefore quite large as the allocation we receive is nowhere near enough to cope with the number of issues we are managing.’