Building emergency: urgent work to be carried out at two Wigan schools with collapse-risk concrete

The Department for Education (DfE) has published details on how it will permanently remove reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) from all the affected schools and colleges across the country.

It had previously been thought that no schools in Wigan borough contained the crumbling concrete, but it has since been found at Dean Trust Rose Bridge and Atherton St George’s CE Primary School.

A total of 234 education settings in England have now been identified as having Raac in some areas of their buildings.

The DfE has said that 119 of these schools will have one or more buildings rebuilt or refurbished through the Government’s School Rebuilding Programme as works to remove Raac are more extensive or complex.

A further 110 schools and colleges – where works will typically be smaller in scale – will receive a grant to help them remove Raac from their buildings.

Five schools and colleges have alternative arrangements in place to address the removal of Raac, the DfE said.

Dean Trust Rose Bridge is part of the School Rebuilding Programme, while St George’s will receive a grant for work to be carried out there.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: “Nothing is more important to me than the safety of every child and member of staff in school.

“We will continue to work closely with schools and colleges as we take the next step to permanently remove Raac from affected buildings.”

The DfE said its Raac identification programme is now complete as 100 per cent of schools and colleges with blocks built in the target era have responded to their questionnaire.

Earlier this week, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), sent an open letter to the Education Secretary calling for schools with Raac to be exempt from Ofsted inspections until they were “fully operational”.

A school or college that has confirmed Raac on site will be eligible for an inspection this term, but they can ask for it to be deferred.

Both schools have been asked to comment on the situation, but neither has so far done so.