Abbey Lane Primary RAAC: Sheffield school will open for new term following DfE warning over ageing concrete

A Sheffield primary school has confirmed it will be open to all students in the new term despite a nationwide safety warning by the DfE over ageing concrete.

At least 100 schools in England have been ordered to shut immediately by the Government over safety concerns linked to a material called RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete).

With just days to go until the end of the summer holidays next week, it is expected to cause disruption for thousands of children across the country while 'safety assessments' are carried out.

Now, the only school known to be affected in Sheffield - Abbey Lane Primary School, in Woodseats - says it will be open to all pupils when kids go back on September 5.

In a short statement on its website last night, the school said: "We will be open for school as planned on Tuesday, 5 September, 2023."

However, some disruption to meal times is expected for at least three months, as the RAAC on the school grounds is located in the kitchen.

The school on Abbey Lane had identified the problem material months prior to the DfE warning, and had secured £620,000 of funding from the council to repair it as early as June.

Councillor Dawn Dale, chair of education, children and families policy committee at Sheffield City Council, told The Star: “Alternative meal arrangements will be in place from next week as the replaced roofing covers the kitchen area. This information has been communicated to parents and carers of children who attend the school.

“Work started in July to replace the RAAC at the school, which will cost £620,000 from our capital budgets. The work is expected to be completed by 1st December 2023.”

It comes after Sheffield City Council said in July it was "confident" none of its 94 maintained schools were "at imminent risk or danger" following enquiries about building safety.

This followed from a national report in June that found 700,000 children in England are learning in 'unsafe or aging' buildings.

The report highlighted RAAC in schools as "susceptible to failure", with as many as 572 schools nationwide containing the material.

The closures come after two schools in Bradford were closed on August 31 over imminent concerns.

Following the announcement, education secretary Gillian Keegan said: “The plan we have set out will minimise the impact on pupil learning and provide schools with the right funding and support they need to put mitigations in place to deal with RAAC”.

However, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said in response that the Government has already u-turned on its financial support for schools.

The union claims guidance issued to schools by the DfE yesterday initially read, "‘we expect you to be able to fund anything that is an additional revenue cost, for example rental costs for emergency or temporary accommodation for education settings or additional transport costs for local authorities" - only for the section in bold [our emphasis] to be removed shortly afterward.

Mr Kebede said: "Nick Gibb [Schools minister] must now be absolutely clear on what costs will or will not be taken on by Government. The current guidance should not be left to interpretation. No costs should come out of existing school budgets, and it must be funded from Government. 

“The Government ripped up Building Schools for the Future in 2010 and has never adequately replaced it. The NEU and sister unions have been raising concerns ever since and pressuring education secretary Gillian Keegan in recent months to release a list of RAAC-affected schools. That list is still not available. Parents and schools know that this Government is not serious about education and will only deal with problems when they become impossible to ignore. This must change.”