Monmouthshire County Council's cabinet members say the authority needs to "press heavily" on the Welsh Assembly Government for funds in an effort to bring the county's secondary schools into the "21st century."

At their last cabinet meeting, members were given a report outlining the case for a secondary education strategic review in the county. The report reveals that the four secondary schools in the county, King Henry VIII, Monmouth Comprehensive School, Caldicot and Chepstow were "not fit for purpose," labelling the buildings as "barriers in enabling standards to be improved, particularly at Key Stage 4 (ages 14 to 16.)

The education shake-up offers four options, 'do nothing' - continuing to manage the sites, with essential maintenance costing £52million, a 'do minimum' option - catching up the maintenance backlog, maintaining that level, meeting current legislative requirements and dealing with health and safety issues the refurbishment/construction will only be carried out when necessary and will not necessarily keep up with educational standards at a cost of £77million.

A 'short-term new build' option - construction of a new school on each of the secondary school sites within a short period of time as possible, which should meet all current standards at a cost of £96 million. The last is a 'phased new build' option - the construction of a new school on each of the sites, phased over a 25 year period and costing £121million.

Leader of MCC, councillor Peter Fox told members, "For the last 12 months a panel has come together and has been looking at secondary school provision in Monmouthshire. We recognise our schools are far from perfect and we are going to look at that. We have taken lots of information from head teachers, teachers and governors about their aspirations for their schools.

"To be able to come forward with this is our main priority. We are bringing forward schools into the 21st century," he added.

Monmouthshire County Council have made significant progress with the primary sector as part of the Education Strategic Review, but there has been no movement in the secondary sector - a key issue within the Estyn Inspection on Access in 2006.

Councillor Fox said, "We have been innovative and exemplary in our primary education structure. I want to seek approval for this report and move onto the next stage of this five stage model the Welsh Assembly say we should use."

Brian Hood said, "A lot of work has gone in to this, it shows commitment of the whole council towards education and trying to do better things for education."

Deputy leader, Bob Greenland said, "Last year I visited all four schools, as have other members and it is quite clear that there is at least one thing not fit for purpose. We all acknowledge that we have to do something.

"If we want good education we must have good buildings and a good environment for teaching children. Therefore we have four options, and 'do nothing' is not free of charge, costing at least £52million. We will have to spend money on these schools whatever option we take. We will be pressing heavily on the Welsh Assembly Government to enable us to do the job we need to do."

Liz Hacket Pain said, "Some radical thinking will have to be done. I think it is quite exciting that we are doing this for the children of Monmouthshire."

Councillor Fox added, "We have not made a decision we need to explore these ideas a lot further but it signals we need to look at it very seriously. These are ball park figures."

A discussion paper produced by Estyn states, "Over recent years there has been a growing awareness of the role a good building design plays in successful education. Pleasant surroundings tend to improve pupils' self-esteem and this in turn can lead to improved educational standards. However, too many of our school buildings are unattractive and uncomfortable. They do not meet the standards that we expect from public buildings today."

Members say without significant help for the projects they will not be able to consider the more expensive options.

The council voted for the project board to proceed to the next phase, the Outline Business Case, which will examine all four options in detail.

The initial feasibility study highlighted several points regarding the schools:

King Henry VIII:

Of the three main buildings only one was in a reasonable condition with the potential to provide good teaching accommodation.

The condition survey shows that while some investment has been made in recent years, the electrical and mechanical installations are reaching the end of their expected lives and large parts of the external fabric still needs to be replaced.

Most classrooms are too small, no meeting rooms, no internal space for pupils during breaks, poor access to the upper school, poor community facilities, inadequate changing rooms, sixth form area totally unsuitable and the school is not designed to cope with new curriculum experiences.

*There are two options for King Henry VIII, rebuild the school around the one existing reasonable building at a estimated cost of £25million or build a new school elsewhere on the site, an estimated cost of £21million.

Monmouth Comprehensive School:

While there are some areas of good quality teaching accommodation, most of the building area has classrooms which are too small, buildings which are in a poor condition or unsuitably located.

Condition survey revealed that all the older buildings had some form of defects. Temporary buildings are probably 15 years past the expected life span, external windows and cladding need replacing a do mechanical and electrical installations.

Many rooms too small, corridors too narrow, laboratories and prep rooms inadequate, no dedicated dining facilities, main school office is not fit for purpose, poor heating and the demountable buildings suffer from damp, cold and water penetration.

*There are two options for Monmouth Comprehensive School, remodel the school around the existing buildings at an estimated cost of £25million or construct a new school on the lower part of the site, at and estimated cost of £22million.