CLASS ACTION
PARENTS have been promised that their kids' dangerous schools will be fixed “extremely quickly”.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said the Government will "spend what it takes" to fix the problem of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) in schools across the country.
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It comes as children up and down the country are set to return to school tomorrow.
However, the start of term has been thrown into chaos after dangerous building material was discovered in 156 schools across England.
Kids face a return to zoom lessons at home, being moved into other schools or taught in marquees in playgrounds while the crisis is dealt with.
But today Chancellor Jeremy Hunt denied there would be "months on end" of children unable to access classrooms but refused to give a deadline for when the disruption would be fully resolved.
Asked whether disruption to schools could last "months on end", he told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: "It won't be.
“This problem is currently affecting around 100 schools but the majority of those are able to operate face to face."
Asked to when the problem might be fixed, he said: "What I can give you a sense of is the speed at which we've acted... We've put in place counter measures in a majority of the remaining schools."
He could not guarantee that there are not hospitals in which patients are currently not safe due to Raac, but promised that if the Government receives any information suggesting this it would take "the action that is necessary".
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He acknowledged the disruption "adds to the stress" for families but insisted ministers had "acted immediately" in response to new safety concerns.
He said that the Government received new advice in "the summer months" which suggested buildings previously considered safe might not be.
It comes as the Education Secretary said disrupting the opening of schools was the “very last thing I wanted to do” - but she had no choice.
List of known schools said to be impacted by RAAC closures
How much of the school is closed will vary - please contact yours to get a better understanding.
Essex
- Hockley Primary School, Rochford
- Mistley Norman Church of England Primary School, Manningtree
- St Andrews Junior School, Hatfield Peverel
- Kingsdown School, Southend-on-Sea
- Stanway Fiveways Primary School, Colchester
- Honywood Community School, Coggeshall
- Baynards Primary School, Tiptree
- Thurstable School, Tiptree
- Winter Gardens Academy, Canvey Island
- Woodville Primary School, South Woodham Ferrers
- The Gilberd School, Colchester
- The Appleton School, Benfleet
- Katherines Primary Academy, Harlow
- White Hall Academy, Clacton-on-Sea
- Ramsey Academy, Halstead
- Ravens Academy, Clacton-On-Sea
- St Clere's School, Stanford-le-Hope
- East Bergholt High School, Colchester
- The Billericay School, Billericay
- Clacton County High School, Clacton
- Jerounds Primary School in Harlow
- Tendring Technology College, Frinton Campus
- White Hall Academy primary, Clacton
- Wyburns Primary School, Rayleigh
Leicestershire
- Willowbrook Mead Primary Academy
- Parks Primary School, Leicester
- Mayflower Primary School, Leicester
West Yorkshire
- Eldwick Primary School, Bradford
- Crossflatts Primary School, Bradford
London
- Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School, Brixton
- St Gregory's Catholic Science College, Brent
- St Thomas More Catholic Comprehensive, Eltham
- Three unidentified schools in the borough of Tower Hamlets
- St Mary Magdalene and St Stephen's CE Primary School, Westminster
South Yorkshire
- Abbey Lane Primary, Sheffield
North Yorkshire
- Scalby School, Scarborough
County Durham
- Ferryhill School, Ferryhill
- St Bede's Catholic School, Easington
- Byron Sixth Form Peterlee, Easington
- St Leonard’s Catholic School, Durham
- St James Catholic Primary, Hebburn
- St Teresa's Catholic Primary School
- Carmel College and Sixth Form, Darlington
Cumbria
- Cockermouth School, Cockermouth
Suffolk
- Claydon High School, Claydon
- Hadleigh High School, Hadleigh
Northamptonshire
- Buckton Fields Primary School, Northampton
Hampshire
- Cranbourne College, Basingstoke
Shropshire
- Donnington Wood Infants School, Donnington
Lancashire
- Our Lady's Catholic High School, Preston
Nottinghamshire
- Holy Trinity Catholic Academy, Newark
- Carnarvon Primary School, Bingham
West Midlands
- Wood Green Academy, Wednesbury
Writing exclusively in The Sun on Sunday, she said: “I understand how important the start of each new school year is for families across this country.
“So no one should be under any illusions over how carefully we took the decision to close even a small number of classrooms.
“The simple fact is we had no choice.
“As Secretary of State for Education my first duty is to protect the safety of pupils, teachers and school workers across this country.
“But I want to reassure families that this is not a return to the dark days of school lockdowns.”
Experts now fear the presence of RAAC also increases the danger of exposure to asbestos, which kills 5,000 people a year in the UK.
The president of the Institution of Structural Engineers, Matt Byatt, said: “There are two real risk-to-life elements to this: if RAAC collapses it puts life at risk in an instantaneous manner; and asbestos can be deadly if it’s inhaled.
‘’These are not lightweight issues — they are very serious, and they should be treated as such.”
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RAA and asbestos are often found in the same buildings as both materials were used extensively in the postwar building boom, reports.
While asbestos is safe when stable, if it is disturbed, as in a building collapse, it could release fibres that, if inhaled, can cause mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer.
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