School closures due to crumbling concrete

[HoliHormonalTigerLillyTheSecond]

JFC you are kidding me?!

https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2023/aug/31/english-schools-told-to-close-buildings-made-with-crumble-risk-concrete]

I brain-dumped a list of safety issues in schools here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4885471-this-government-cares-about-the-safety-of-schools-hence-the-action-taken

grrrr, privatisation, what a fucking shit show

That's abysmal. Gross incompetence snd disregard towards the children, teachers, parents and everyone working in schools. I'm disgusted.

I am sure the Government will do "whatever it takes" to ensure schools are safe, hospitals are safe etc.

Isn't that what Sunak will say?

As I say, the Labour Welsh government has only just announced it's going to survey schools in Wales.

And here local authorities are and always have been responsible for building schools. I do hope they still have details of the construction of school buildings during the period RAAC was in use.

And I'm glad my children have finished in education. It must be so worrying for parents.

In fairness to Welsh Gov though, wouldn't this issue affect schools built pre-devolution? I'm not saying they're perfect (far from it), but I think the lion share of the blame is with Westminster, no?

Checking whether public buildings have RAAC in them would have been the responsibility of every government since at least the time the material stopped being used in the mid 1990s.

Devolution was in place in Wales and Scotland by 1999, not long after discontinuation of the use of RAA, and since then Labour has been in power in Wales and the SNP in Scotland.

All governments have neglected this issue.

And it has been known about for a long time. A construction trade website says "In 1982, production of RAAC in the UK stopped amid concerns over its structural performance and life expectancy, which was subsequently predicted by BRE to be around 30 years."

Completing the Building Schools for the Future programme would surely have resolved the issue....

Just had an e mail from DS's school saying they've not had their survey results from DfE yet 😂

My older reps secondary schools are only 5-10 years old so lucky there but god knows on the primary. Not heard anything but coms is pretty rubbish anyway. Think is was a war or post war hospital originally 😬

BSF should never have been scrapped. A terrible move by the Tories.

In my area we have two tiers of schools, basically. Those who benefitted from BSF and are well designed, purpose-built and safe…and wrecks that are falling apart.

The only special school at secondary level in my borough is currently operating out of portacabins and classrooms borrowed from other schools as the buildings aren’t safe. It’s shameful.

I doubt that very much. There had been no audit of which schools were affected at the time BSF was initiated, and no prioritisation was therefore possible. So the then modern schools (less than 5 years old at the time, and still less than 30 years old now) would not have been included at all. But concrete-free largely schools built pre-War did get works done

The money ran out in 2008. If there had been prioritisation by concrete - fixing the schools most likely to actually fall down, rather than those likely to leak or with worse facilities - then yes there could have been a major dent in the numbers hitting safety issues now.

There's no way BSF (which was mainly? entirely?) PFI could have survived for long after the credit crunch hit.

Well I guess it pales the Damp and Mould debacle into insignificance.

Gove seems to be a common denominator in all this.

My primary school was made up of two buildings - the nineteenth century old school and the modern infants.

Is there anything systematically wrong with Victorian school buildings? There are still a lot around.

[[https://capx.co/the-estate-were-in-school-closures-over-building-safety-could-so-easily-have-been-avoided/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=01%2F07%2F23+ This is a reasonably balanced article on the RAAC in schools.

An expert who looked at the schools issue has now called for an urgent review of social housing to see if there's a risk there too.

The government said 'not our problem, it's up to the building owner'. Shock
Would it be cynical of me to suspect that this issue was a driving factor in the push for academisation?
If I were to be of a suspicious mind,I might wonder if there was an incentive to transfer the deeds to crumbling buildings to private companies.

I remember my secondary school being flagged as an asbestos risk and having long standing building issues. Others in the town were the same. Most of them still have 50/60s teaching blocks still in place.

Got an email from our school today to say they have 22 classrooms affected and so it will be a mixture of remote learning and days in school for the next few weeks. The school found out yesterday afternoon! Thankfully they are a very well run school and have organised a timetable so every year group goes into school 2 days, and remotes the rest. Year 7 & 11 are in everyday, as are sen pupils (it has an attached autism hub). Feel so sorry for the schools, just getting over the disruption covid caused, now got this!

I have a theory that this government lets things go to utter shit as then they can rush through contracts to 'fix' them. There's then not enough time for scrutiny that it's gone to their friend, family member or party donor and if anyone does notice - its too late.

@LolaSmiles

Makes sense.

I think they should publish a list

They can’t because they don’t even know I bet.

probably plucking numbers from the air right now and it will be much much worse.

What I found appalling was the fact the government is going to give schools money for remedial works, which sounds like bunging in a few RSJ's, but not for any costs incurred securing temporary classrooms if needed. Their budgets are already tighter than a gnats chuff !

Well Lyn hospital is full of RSJ’s thousands of them to keep it open. It’s going to be like shanty schools.

@OhmygodDont https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-63137642

Closing operating theatres will have a massive impact on waiting lists in the area too, one of Sunaks key promises being to reduce waiting lists ?

Someone will die:(

It’s terrible isn’t it. Once again things have been left to the last minute till the rots well and truly set in. That’s the biggest/main hospital in Norfolk as well isn’t it? I know we drive past it to go camping.