Worcestershire County Council update on RAAC school closures

RAAC: Worcestershire County Council has provided an update on the status of RAAC in county schools. (Image: Jacob King/PA)

NO RAAC has been found in schools which are maintined by Worcestershire County Council.

All schools funded and controlled by the local authority are thought not to have RAAC present.

There are fears the lightweight building material used from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s is at risk of collapse.

More than 100 schools in England have been told to fully or partially close as a result of safety concerns about RAAC.

READ MORE: Pershore High School closes drama building over RAAC fears

Pershore High School’s drama building has closed as a precaution.

Councillor Adam Kent, cabinet member with responsibility for corporate services and communication at Worcestershire County Council, said: “We can confirm that no RAAC has been found in any maintained school that the council is responsible for.

“We are currently unable to confirm the extent of academy schools with suspected or confirmed cases as they are required to report any confirmed or suspected RAAC directly to the Department for Education.

“The Department for Education has informed us that the full list of schools affected is currently under embargo but have reassured us that they are working with schools to ensure that adequate mitigations are being put in place.”

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Pershore High School, in Station Road, was forced to close a drama teaching space and costume store as it may have been built using RAAC.

The school became aware of the situation with the building “in the early part of the summer term.

Phil Hanson, executive headteacher of Pershore High School, said: “We became aware of the possible RAAC construction in a mobile classroom in the early part of the summer term due to the fact that we are part of the DfE Schools Rebuilding Programme.

“The DfE’s contractors have undertaken surveys of all the buildings over the course of the last 2 years.

“We will have a further survey undertaken this week to check other areas of the school.  We are very fortunate that we have an additional mobile classroom on site which was not timetabled for any lessons so we will convert that into a temporary drama studio.

“Our rebuild and expansion project will provide two new drama studios on its completion.”