Scalby School to close buildings due to concrete collapsing concerns
It's been confirmed by North Yorkshire Council
Last updated 1st Sep 2023
Scalby School in Scarborough has been told to close affected buildings due to safety concerns about a type of concrete.
It has emerged more public buildings have been found across the UK that contain RAAC which is prone to collapse.
In England, more than a hundred school classrooms which contain the lightweight material are being shut, and now seven hospitals are being rebuilt.
North Yorkshire Council director of children and young people’s service, Stuart Carlton, said:
“Our priority is the safety of our children and all staff working in schools. We are aware of one school in the county which has been constructed using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). Scalby School in Scarborough has been asked to close the buildings affected. The school is required to make suitable arrangements to continue the education of their 1,000 pupils until safety work can be carried out.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and work closely with Coast and Vale Learning Trust, which oversees Scalby School, and the Department of Education. We would like to reassure parents or guardians that any school affected by RAAC will contact them directly. Scalby School is the only one in North Yorkshire on the current Department for Education list of 104 schools affected.”
In a letter to parents and carers, Chris Robertson, headteacher, said: "In the news today you may have seen that the DFE have made the decision to change the guidance to schools where reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) is present on site. RAAC is a lightweight form of concrete; because it is weaker than regular concrete, concerns have been raised about its long-term durability. As I explained to parents earlier this year, we identified that RAAC was present on the site at Scalby and during last term we took measures in line with DFE guidance to mitigate against this. At the time the DFE were happy with this work, and we were working closely with them to resolve the issues. This allowed us to run and operate the school as normal.
"On Thursday afternoon I was contacted by the DFE and was informed that due to the changes in their guidance parts of the school site did not now meet the new guidance produced by them yesterday. Currently we believe significant parts of the school site are affected by the change in guidance. This also includes access routes around the school building. This is going to have a significant impact on the education provision we can offer in the short term.
"This morning I informed staff that I would need to take the affected areas out of use while we put safety measures in place and plan for reopening. You will appreciate, of course, that the safety of students and staff is of paramount importance to all concerned.
"Unfortunately, this will cause some unavoidable disruption to students’ education. We are working to ensure that the impact on students is kept to an absolute minimum. However, I must inform you that school will not now reopen until Monday 11th September.
"This will allow us time to reorganise the school curriculum, work with contractors to start work to reopen parts of the building and ensure that the school is fully risk assessed. Following my initial conversations with the DFE and contractors I must inform you that reopening is likely to be a mix of face to face and online home learning.
"The details of what this looks like I am not able to share with you currently. My team need time to digest all the information presented to us and work through solutions to get as many students back on site as quickly as possible. As soon we have concrete proposals in place as to what this looks like I will write to you and inform you. This is likely to be on Tuesday next week.
"DfE will be supporting us throughout and will also be assisting with longer-term remediation measures so that the affected areas can be returned to use once we are fully confident it is safe to do so.
"I appreciate that the timing of this decision, shortly before the start of the autumn term, is far from ideal. This decision has been taken out of an abundance of caution to ensure pupil safety, and we will be doing all we can ensure that the impact on students is kept to a minimum.
"Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter."
City of York Council says there are no RAAC school closures in York.