Farlingaye High School in Woodbridge, Hadleigh High School near Sudbury, Claydon High School near Ipswich and East Bergholt High School to delay start of term due to RAAC
Four Suffolk schools are having to delay the start of term due to defective concrete on their sites.
Farlingaye High School in Woodbridge, Hadleigh High School in Hadleigh, near Sudbury, Claydon High School, near Ipswich, and East Bergholt High School have updated parents and carers on their plans to reopen to students.
These schools are among more than 100 across England affected by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Farlingaye High School
Farlingaye High School in Ransom Road updated parents and carers yesterday to say Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) was present in a variety of areas at the school.
Headteacher Peter Smith said ‘a significant’ amount of teaching space was now out of action and the issue affects not only classrooms but other school spaces and facilities.
He wrote: “Therefore, we have begun the challenging process of re-rooming the affected classrooms into other spaces across the school as a short-term measure.
“At the same time as this, we have had some really positive conversations with a local company who can provide temporary buildings for us to use whilst the necessary long-term work is undertaken to make the school safe.”
He said they had managed to secure a range of classroom spaces, toilet facilities and changing rooms, and these should start arriving on Friday.
While these spaces are made operational, classes affected by RAAC will be moved to other areas of the school for approximately two to four weeks, said Mr Smith.
There are also some other immediate remedial actions needed across the site in order to make it safe for the return of students which are already underway, he added.
As a result of the action being taken, there will be a slight delay to the start of term: Years 7 and 12 only will be in on Thursday and Years 7, 11, 12 and 13 only will be in on Friday.
The schools hopes all students will be able to return by Monday, September 11.
Mr Smith said in the letter: “As I am sure you can appreciate, this is a very ‘live’ situation and could change as the week progresses. I will, of course, keep you informed.
“We want all our students in Farlingaye as soon as is possible, but given the challenging circumstances that this scenario has presented, we need a little extra time to ensure that we can facilitate the safe return of all to the site.”
Years 7, 10 and 12 had been due to start back tomorrow, with the rest of the year groups joining them the following day.
Hadleigh High School
Hadleigh High School in Highlands Road informed parents and carers on Sunday that it has one block of 16 classrooms (design technology, maths and science) that is out of action.
The message on the school website said they were working to secure 14 temporary buildings so the school can fully reopen.
The school is planning to delay the start of term by one day. The provisional return plan is for Year 7 to start on Thursday, Years 7 and 11 only on Friday and the rotational return of Years 8, 9 and 10 from Monday.
The message from the school and Penrose Learning Trust said: “We aim to have three year groups in school at one time until temporary classrooms are in place, however until we have re-timetabled, we cannot be certain that this will be possible.”
They hope to provide a further update to parents/carers early this week.
The message added: “On behalf of the trust, I would like to apologise for the disruption. The start of a new school year should be full of excitement, positivity and a celebration of the great results achieved by the school over the summer.
“Instead, we find ourselves scrabbling to ensure we can get all the students back to school as quickly as possible.”
Claydon High School
A message on the Claydon High School website says they have delayed the start of term by one day.
The return plan is for Years 7, 10 and 11 to return on Thursday, September 7, and Years 7, 10 and 11 to be in on Friday.
Home learning will be issued to students in Years 10 and 11 to complete at home on Friday but this will not involve remote learning.
East Bergholt High School
East Bergholt High School has also had to delay the start of term. Term was meant to begin on Monday, September 4.
Years 7 and 11 will be in school from Thursday, September 7. Years 8, 9 and 10 will be in school on certain days, with a plan on the website for the next couple of weeks.
For those at home, online lessons will start on Monday.
East Bergholt High School, Hadleigh High School and Claydon High School are part of the Penrose Learning Trust.
