Tiverton High School Will "Almost Certainly be Rebuilt" - Says Department for Education

Last month, Rachel Gilmour MP met with officials from the Department for Education to receive an update on the rebuild of Tiverton High School.

During a meeting in December, Mrs Gilmour requested assurances that the rebuild of Tiverton High School would be delivered and was informed by government officials that, “given there is cross-government support for the programme, schools that are already announced through the Schools Rebuilding Programme, such as Tiverton High School, will almost certainly be rebuilt (in the context that they will either have blocks refurbished or be rebuilt in entirety) subject of course to condition need, site suitability and due diligence”. Currently, the school is still in the pre-feasibility phase, as there is an ongoing assessment of the condition of various school buildings.

The Department for Education’s project team “are actively working with Devon County Council and have regular calls to work through the pre-feasibility due diligence activities”. Mrs Gilmour was informed that the Department and the local authority will continue working together until the Department takes complete ownership of the project after this initial phase.

Devon County Council is said to believe that any design for the rebuild should be scalable to meet a future capacity requirement of up to 1,800 pupils, which was also supported by Mrs Gilmour. However, in that case, Department officials confirmed that Devon County Council would need to “commit additional funding if an expansion is sought”.

Since her election in 2024, Rachel Gilmour MP has met with government officials, delivered various speeches in Parliament, and written multiple letters to the Secretary of State, pressing for rebuilding work to start. Mrs Gilmour has used all parliamentary means to ensure Tiverton High School was originally part of the School Rebuilding Programme in 2024, the school remains on the programme, as well as frequently asking for updates.

Mrs Gilmour’s most recent letter to the Secretary of State, which was sent on the 15th December 2025, requested written clarification on when Mid Devon residents could expect work on the rebuild to commence. Despite welcoming the Government’s announcement in December 2025 of £3 billion of funding towards 50,000 new specialist SEND places within mainstream schools, Tiverton’s MP then expressed her concerns over the prioritisation of funding and resources for the Schools Rebuilding Programme.

However, following these recent discussions, Rachel Gilmour MP has now received assurances that the Department for Education remains committed to carrying out improvement works on Tiverton High School.

MP for Tiverton and Minehead, Rachel Gilmour said:

“Despite the positive news that the Department for Education is still committed to rebuilding Tiverton High School, these delays are incredibly frustrating.

As much as I welcome a comprehensive pre‑feasibility assessment to ensure the Department for Education correctly determines the extent of the rebuild, the state of the school buildings is dire and has been for over 20 years. This situation is unsustainable – young people and families in Tiverton deserve so much better than this.

I will endeavour to regularly meet with the Department for Education for comprehensive updates on when the project enters the next stage in the process and will update constituents as soon as I hear more. I won’t stop until Tiverton High School gets the rebuild the community both needs and deserves.”