School in Hull will reopen tomorrow after safety checks found RAAC isn't present
Parents were previously told to keep pupils away
A Hull school will reopen tomorrow after safety checks found it is not affected by potentially dangerous concrete.
Westcott Primary, in the Summergangs Road area of east Hull, was told it must undergo the urgent review amid the national scandal over reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in schools, which has forced more than 100 to close across the UK.
Parents were contacted by Westcott asking them to keep children away due to potential disruption, but the school has now confirmed that no RAAC was found and pupils will be able to return on Wednesday.
At present, the school is believed to be the only one in Hull caught up in the review. However, a leading city councillor said she believed that parents would be horrified by the national scandal.
Cllr Linda Tock, the Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People, said Hull City Council was working with the Department for Education and local academy trusts to find any schools affected by RAAC. She has called on Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, for urgent assurances on the issue.
The councillor said: “Parents across Hull will be horrified that ministers have let this happen. It should never have been allowed to get to this point. The Government has known about this crumbling concrete for years, but time and again has denied our children the money needed to stop schools from collapsing completely.
“Every propped-up classroom roof is a concrete sign of Conservative neglect of our school buildings. Pupil safety is paramount, it’s time the Government got a grip to remove risky RAAC.”
It comes as 104 schools in England have been deemed as requiring urgent action because their buildings contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). A total of 156 have been found to contain RAAC. A spokesperson for the Department for Education said they were working with affected schools to keep disruption to a minimum.
RAAC was used in school buildings between the 1960s and 1990s as a cheaper alternative to regular concrete. But it has a lifespan of around 30 years and is prone to sudden failure. This was seen when a Kent school’s classroom roof collapsed in 2018, fortunately during a weekend.
It is understood that Hull has benefitted in this regard due to the Building Schools for the Future programme, which saw many schools rebuilt in the 2000s, after RAAC had fallen out of use. The Local Democracy Reporting Service also understands that there are no schools affected in the East Riding at this time.
In a statement today, Deborah Prescott, the Executive Headteacher of Westcott Primary School, said: “We were informed by the Department for Education that our school may have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and an inspection had to take place today.
“As we were told this assessment may be disruptive, we made the decision to inform parents that their children should remain at home whilst the inspection was carried out. Providing a safe and secure learning environment for our pupils is extremely important to us.
“Assessors have now carried out a thorough inspection of our school and confirmed that we have no RAAC. We’d like to thank parents for being so understanding and look forward to welcoming back our pupils to Westcott Primary School tomorrow morning.”
The Department for Education’s spokesperson said: “A total of 52 of the 156 RAAC cases identified already have mitigations in place, and while some of the remaining projects will be more complex, many will range from just a single building on a wider estate, down to a single classroom.
“We are incredibly grateful to school and college leaders for their work with us at pace to make sure that where children are affected, disruption is kept to a minimum, and in the even rarer cases where remote learning is required, it is for a matter of days not weeks.”