Special school told it would be demolished due to unsafe RAAC concrete just days before new term starts

A school for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) was told it was “effectively condemned” and would need to be demolished because of unsafe concrete just days before pupils and staff were due to return, i can reveal.

More than 100 schools in England are affected by fresh guidance over the safety of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), a form of the material used between the 50s to the 90s that is now potentially structurally unsound.

Kingsdown, a school for SEND children in Southend, Essex, was told on Thursday it cannot reopen and will have to be pulled down, according to Lib Dem councillor Paul Collins.

“The main building is effectively condemned because of RAAC,” Mr Collins told i. “They knew they had it in the building in some parts, but they felt it was just some areas. Now the DfE has decided the whole school can’t reopen.”

He said he has been hearing from parents who are “very upset” about the decision. Less than a few hundred children attend the school and Southend Council is hoping to accommodate them in another school nearby but the disruption will be significant.

“I was speaking to the parents of one child last night, they are both working parents and they’ve been covering the school holidays with care arrangements and holiday,” he said.

“They were looking forward to Monday to having their children back in that safe space and suddenly everything’s been turned upside down.

“Children with special needs often need routine, the school will suffer and the parents. It is an acute problem.”

The Government has said it will cover all of the capital costs of schools that are affected by RAAC and need to repair buildings.

But in the case of Kingsdown, Mr Collins said the school has been told it will have to be pulled down entirely.

“They will get a nice, new school at the end of this, that is what the DfE has said, but who knows when that will be?” he added.

Schools minister Nick Gibb has said the new assessment over RAAC was made ‘over the summer’ (Photo: Victoria Jones/PA Wire)

Although the Government has been aware of the dangers of RAAC to specific buildings since at least 2018, Schools Minister Nick Gibb said on Friday that it was only “over the summer” that surveyors decided some were no longer safe to be used.

The DfE began contacting schools on 31 August, with many schools due to reopen on Monday, 4 September.

Speaking on Sky News, Mr Gibb admitted some schools still don’t know about the the new risk assessment and are being contacted on Friday.

Labour is calling on the Government to publish a list of schools and i understands that even local councils are yet to have confirmation from the DfE, even though they will be expected to manage the disruption.

Teachers’ unions have said it is “absolutely disgraceful” that schools are only being informed of the RAAC decision days before schools are due to reopen.

Mr Collins said the lack of communication has been “appalling” adding: “This should have been done four or five weeks ago not now.

“I do think the DfE need their feet held to the fire a bit, the timing is as bad as it could be.”

Mr Gibb said the Government “took the decision as soon as the evidence emerged” to inform schools but admitted there could still be further closures during the school year.

“There may be more after that as these questionnaires continue to be surveyed and we continue to do more surveying work,” he told GB News.

But Mr Gibb insisted that pupils and parents should not be apprehensive about the risk during the wait for the results.

“No, they shouldn’t worry,” he said.

“That’s a very cautious approach, so parents can be confident that if they’ve not been contacted by their school it is safe to send children back into school.”