RAAC: Government releases new list of schools with collapse-prone concrete
The government has updated the list of schools discovered to have collapse-prone concrete (RAAC).
Another 27 schools have been discovered to have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete as of 14 September.
The government previously revealed 147 schools had informed them of the presence of the material.
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Thousands of pupils had the start of their term disrupted by the discovery of RAAC, as some schools had to close buildings or classrooms.
Of these, most have all pupils in face-to-face education, while one is fully remote, two have a mix of arrangements, and one is still establishing how to proceed.
There is now only one school which is fully remote – down from four before, while 23 are operating a mix of face-to-face and remote.
In total, 174 schools have been found to have RAAC, with 98.6% of schools asked having returned the government’s surveys.
The schools newly found to have RAAC are:
Ark John Keats Academy, London
Avenue Centre for Education, Luton, Bedfordshire
Baildon Church of England Primary School, Bradford, Yorkshire
Baskerville School, Birmingham
Buttsbury Junior School, Billericay, Essex
Colyton Grammar School, Colyton, Devon
Eldwick Primary School, Bradford, Yorkshire
Farlingaye High School, Woodbridge, Suffolk
Farnborough College of Technology, Farnborough, Hampshire
Grantham College, Grantham, Lincolnshire
Kingsbury High School, London
Marling School, Stroud, Gloucestershire
Maryvale Catholic Primary School, Birmingham
Merrylands Primary School, Basildon, Essex
Mulberry Stepney Green Mathematics and Computing College, London
Myton School, Warwick, Warwickshire
Ortu Corringham Primary School and Nursery, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex
Ravens Academy, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex
Selworthy Special School, Taunton, Somerset
St Joseph’s Catholic Voluntary Academy, Market Harborough, Leicestershire
Steeple Bumpstead Primary School, Haverhill, Essex
Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School, London
Surrey Street Primary School, Luton, Bedfordshire
The Link School, Sutton, Surrey
The Macclesfield Academy, Macclesfield, Cheshire
Marple Sixth Form College (part of Trafford College Group), Stockport, Greater Manchester
Westlands School, Sittingbourne, Kent
More details can be found on the government website here.
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RAAC was used extensively in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s in the UK. It is like concrete but is filled with air bubbles.
It weighs about a quarter of what normal concrete does, but has been found to become waterlogged and weak after a couple of decades.
Responding to the new schools found to have RAAC, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “This news is frustratingly not surprising, because the Conservatives chose not to fix the roof while the sun was shining.
“The Conservatives’ catastrophic decision to cut Labour’s building schools for the future programme, compounded by inaction man Rishi Sunak’s decision to slash funding for school rebuilding, has led to the disruption to learning that we are now seeing.
“The Conservatives have said they will do whatever it takes to fix this crisis: they must now ensure that no child will have to return to remote learning.”