Parents told ‘don’t worry’ as schools forced to close over crumbling concrete

Parents have been told not to “worry” as schools across the country have been forced to close over crumbling concrete.

More than 100 schools across England have been told to close classrooms and buildings with immediate effect over health and safety fears, with thousands of pupils at risk of a tumultuous start to the new school year.

Known as reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), the lightweight material in question was used in schools, colleges and other buildings between the 1950s and the mid-1990s, but has since been found to be at risk of collapse.

Education secretary Gillian Keegan has insisted the government is working to “minimise this as much as possible”.

Asked what her message to parents would be, she said: “Don’t worry. We’ve been working on this a lot, in great detail. We will identify the schools, we will have the teams of people, we’ll be making sure that we minimise this as much as possible and the school will be in touch.

“It’s 156 out of our 22,000 schools, so for most people, you won’t be affected.”

However, the number of schools affected could still rise as newly issued government guidance set out plans to survey all schools suspected of suffering similar problems within “weeks”.

The DfE said it contacted the schools in the wake of analysis of new cases after 52 of the 156 educational settings containing the concrete took protective steps so far this year. The other 104 have been issued guidance to shut affected buildings this week.

Is your school affected by the closures? Email us at newsdesk@independent.co.uk

Meanwhile, the National Education Union criticised the government for expecting schools to pay for emergency temporary accommodation themselves after its “shocking neglect of school buildings.”

General secretary Daniel Kebede said: “It is absolutely disgraceful, and a sign of gross government incompetence, that a few days before the start of term, 104 schools are finding out that some or all of their buildings are unsafe and cannot be used.

“To add insult to injury the government states in its guidance that it will not be covering the costs of emergency temporary accommodation or additional transport.”

Union Unison described the situation “nothing short of a scandal”, saying the “eleventh-hour” decision would create “turmoil.”

“To wait until the eleventh hour as schools are preparing for a new academic year will create turmoil for thousands of families. And this could just be the tip of the iceberg”, Mike Short from Unison said.