Department for Education documents show that staff have been instructed to contact leaders of England’s schools and academies to check they are prepared to evacuate buildings constructed from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) at short notice, and relocate pupils to alternatives such as portable accommodation or even other schools in their area.
While the dangers of ageing RAAC buildings have been highlighted since a 2018 roof collapse at a primary school in Kent, the DfE’s ring-round comes just a few days before the start of the new school year in England.
Read the full article in the Guardian here.
Hundreds of English schools still at risk from crumbling concrete
Hundreds of schools in England are still at risk of collapse from crumbling concrete, according to previously unpublished figures. Official data, which the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
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A third of children in council care in 2023 lived over 20 miles away from their local area, school and family – around 4,600 people in total.
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