Crisis for RAAC schools as Government won't put mobile classrooms on grass

21 October 2023 , 17:07

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Pupils and parents outside St. Leonard's RC School in Durham, which has partially shut due to reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Image: PA)

Some schools are being sent only a handful of the mobile classrooms they need to cope with the number of spaces forced to close with suspected crumbling concrete.

Aylesford school in Warwick was forced to close 29 classrooms where reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) is suspected to be present - but can’t be inspected because of asbestos. Years 8 and 9 have had no in-person teaching since the start of the year, with year 10 attending on a rota.

But school leaders have been told they’ll only be getting nine mobile classrooms, because Department for Education (DfE) officials won’t let them be set up on grass. Local MP Matt Western has written to Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, pressing her to rethink the policy.

He told this newspaper: “Surely this is not beyond the wit of man to put some temporary hardstanding on grassy areas. The military would do this, if it was on a deployment is to use Rola-Trac.”

Rola-Trac is a temporary hard surface flooring widely used in the military, construction and events industries.

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“You can you can buy this stuff really easily off the shelf,” Mr Western added. “And we could dramatically increase the number of classrooms on site, which would then mean that all the kids stay in one area.”

St Leonards Secondary School, Gateshead, has 1,490 children split between makeshift classrooms in the school hall and spaces in a local Catholic seminary college. School leaders are pleading with Ofqual to allow “special consideration” from exam boards for children studying for GCSE exams in such difficult circumstances.

Mr Western added: “The reality is there’ll be lots of other schools in this situation. They’ve not done a full audit. They’re not really interested in problems, because problems are difficult and they cost money.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The Government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK. Every school or college with confirmed RAAC is assigned a dedicated caseworker who works with them to assess what support is needed and put in place mitigation plans that are right for them.

“We will spend whatever it takes to keep children safe. The government will fund the emergency mitigation work and longer-term refurbishment or rebuilding projects to rectify the RAAC issue. Schools and colleges will either be offered capital grants to fund refurbishment work to permanently remove RAAC, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, including through the School Rebuilding Programme.”

Mikey Smith