She wants to find out if they are fit for purpose and if their condition is such that their use is breaking the law.

Proposals by Highland Council education officials to rank the schools most in need of upgrade have also been attacked by a number of councillors as potentially discriminatory and a means of further delaying urgent refurbishment at a number of school buildings throughout the region.

Officials revealed that they intended ranking projects in future on a range of parameters including projected school rolls.

Speaking at a meeting of the education, culture and sport committee yesterday, Mrs MacNab said that this could discriminate against rural schools. She told the meeting: "School rolls are projected to fall in a number of rural areas, and Wick is no exception. That means that this criterion won't be in our favour.

"Meanwhile, we have a school building which has new windows which don't open; heating which, when it works, can't be controlled; a lack of storage space; and a swimming pool that is almost unusable because few of the filters are working.

"The maths block is three storeys high but it has windows which open so wide the children could fall out of them. There are no social areas and 860 kids have nowhere to go when it rains. There is one working toilet for over 400 boys and two toilets for over 400 girls. There was no heating for two weeks in November and children came to school with extra clothes and gloves."

Mrs MacNab said that the education officials were well aware of the problems but had done nothing about them for years.

She said: "There was a report done in 2004 with recommendations for improvement but that has never been done. What option do we have? The nearest alternative school is 21 miles away."

Landward Caithness councillor Robert Coghill struggled to find words to describe the building.

"This is not a damned disgrace, it is more than that. These proposals to rank the schools are a time-delaying exercise. We don't need this, we know the school is a dump," he said.

The chairman, Councillor Bill Fernie, Wick, said they had to have some means of dealing with the problems they have with schools, because there are a number in the same condition.

A water-damaged floor in the 'new' block at Wick High School.

Hugh Fraser, the director of ECS, said that rolls had to be taken into account to give full information on investment decisions.

Councillor David Flear, Landward Caithness, attacked Mr Fernie for not seeking to ensure that the school is upgraded.

"If this had been a privately-owned building we would have condemned it," he said. "You are a Wick councillor and you should be speaking out about it. The previous chairman, Roddy Balfour, did a report on this which never saw the light of day.

"We have a socio-economic disaster on our doorstep, because with the closure of Dounreay we will lose 2500 jobs. The Highland Council assured us they would give us the infrastructure, including schools, to attract inward investment. If the Health and Safety Executive went round Wick High School, what would they say?"

Easter Ross councillor Alasdair Rhind said they were in a similar situation with Tain Royal Academy.

"We keep getting report after report on the condition of the school," he explained.

"Cut out this bureaucratic nonsense and get people on the ground doing something. We sit in a plush chamber here while kids are being taught in rooms with the water coming through the roof."

Mrs MacNab said: "A report in 2005 said that then £31 million would be required to bring the schools in Caithness up to an acceptable standard. There is £1m a year for school refurbishment and that wouldn't come anywhere near addressing the problems.

"We need to look into the health and-safety issues. I'm going to write to the H&SE and ask them to visit the school so that they can satisfy me that it is in good condition for children to study there and for teachers to be working in."

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