School buildings to be shut

[Parapapampam]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-66673971

I can see this being my Dcs school, built within the timeframe and very concrete, they lack space already, as I'm sure most schools do, so not sure where they'd go if it were the case.

A shame it wasn't done at the start of summer, so things could have been started already.

So they do it a few days before term starts when they had the report in June? What the fuck? Not only disruptive for children, but a ridiculous amount of extra work for teachers. If it's not safe then agree it needs addressing but their timing as always is absolutely despicable for goodness sake.

This was an issue before the summer. Schools in our LA were checked c. May/June

It's a very real concern for many NHS buildings as well, putting more pressure than ever on a stretched public sector across the NHS and education.

I read something about this in June too. Any idea when they will identify the schools?

Wow that is INCREDIBLY last minute!!

The Department for Education assessed the possibility of school building collapse or failure causing death or injury as ‘critical and very likely’ in 2021

Jeez. And yes agree it's an issue in NHS buildings too, probably most public sector buildings as they start to feel the pinch of austerity even more savagely.

Typical government if they had announced it in June when they got the report things could properly be put in place.

ds school could well be one impacted given the age and structure type so I have fingers crossed he isn’t impacted but it will be a nightmare for those who are

It can't just be schools, surely?
Who's paying for these repairs?
Construction firms that bid for work on school premises are pretty snowed under during school holidays, so perhaps it wouldn't have made the kind of difference you might think.

Agreed, I really hope the funding for this isn't coming out of the already non-existent budget.

I suspect the government have known about this for years. It’s probably behind the push for academisation as well. Schools are literally falling down, but once they are made academies-they have to pay for all repairs themselves.

With most schools in my area becoming academies within the last 2 years 🤔

If nothing else it would have given time for plans to be put in place.

if heads find out tomorrow that there school in on the list they are going to be very limited what they can plan before term starts for many on Monday.

"The Department for Education assessed the possibility of school building collapse or failure causing death or injury as ‘critical and very likely’ in 2021"

And this is very scary, if they knew in 2021 why the hell have they still been letting children into buildings where death or injury is very likely!

Not only this but the government has sat on the 2021 Schools Condition Report here for years, allowing children and staff to be put in potential danger.

Obviously none of this is in anyway surprising.

Wow! How on earth are schools going to afford to fix this, or even put mitigations in place?

DfE say it will very fully funded

NEU says no it's not, schools or LAs will have to fund the temporary accommodation and transport.

OK sorry that's not mitigations.

A primary school ceiling collapsed in 2018 and the assessment was that it was very lucky that it happened at the weekend because if it had happened during the week, children would have been injured or potentially killed.

That was 5 years ago. They've done nothing about it since then.

https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/08/31/new-guidance-on-raac-in-education-settings/

This hasn't happened overnight and academies should have done their due diligence before taking buildings on.

Yeah, nope sorry I don't believe that for one second.

Academies have been notoriously bad at undertaking school repairs. Many schools have been complaining of leaking roofs and unsafe buildings for years and nothing has been done. This was known about but has been left until the very last minute.

What age of building roughly are we talking?