More Durham parents speak out about reality of RAAC-affected school
St Leonards Catholic School is one of those affected by the crisis
Last updated 4th Mar 2024
We are hearing from more parents about the reality their children are facing at a RAAC-affected school in Durham.
St. Leonard's has been disrupted over the last six months due to the crumbling concrete crisis.
Michael Neasham is a teacher elsewhere but he has two daughters in Year 7 and Year 10 and said: "I can't put into words to be honest how awful it is for them and how awful it makes me feel as well. It's absolutely awful that my children are going to have a completely different experience of secondary school than I had, and they're going to have a completely different experience of secondary school to virtually the rest of this country.
"They're being taught by proper teachers, qualified teachers, but they're not being taught the proper curriculum with interative whiteboards. They don't have access and they haven't had access to them in the classroom. They're using clipboards, instead of desks, sat on a chair and some children don't even have the luxury of a clipboard, they're just resting on the back of a book.
"My Year 10 child, she missed a lot of her GCSE option subjects. She wasn't taught two of them for the whole of the first half term and then only started getting some of the amount she should be getting, not the full amount, per week in the run-up to Christmas and there's online catch up videos that have been posted for her.
"I'm hoping that they'll still get good grades at school. We did want the oldest one to stay on at St Leonard's for the sixth form but she absolutely will not be doing that. Also for the younger one, I'm more concerned about her because a lot of the teachers, a lot of the good staff at St Leonard's, are going to be leaving.
"An absolutely shocking, shocking situation which in my experience of working in other countries, it absolutely wouldn't happen and speaking to other friends and colleagues in other countries, they're shocked. Speaking to friends in this country, they're speechless when I tell them what the situation is at St Leonard's and to be honest, there's not a lot of improvements."
In a statement, the Government said: "The Department’s RAAC Identification programme is now complete as 100% of schools and colleges with blocks built in the target era have responded to the questionnaire.
"All schools or colleges that advised us they suspect they might have RAAC have had a survey to confirm if RAAC is present.
"A small number of schools and colleges are carrying out additional checks for further assurance in some spaces. The Department is working with responsible bodies to support them to complete these additional checks as quickly as possible.
"We are committed to removing RAAC within schools in a timely manner and are working with responsible bodies to work as quickly as possible.
"Each case is different and will require different levels of work however in some cases work is already underway and will be completed in coming months."