More than 100 schools told to close buildings over safety fears

Anybody fancy going into business with me hiring out portable classrooms?

www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/06/boom-for-prefab-classroom-makers-as-england-schools-raac-crisis-deepens

I have about 47p of capital, virtually no business experience, but I had a chat with the landlord of Matt Hancock's local pub and apparently it's easy.

😁
You may laugh but as soon as the new primary school here was built it wasn't large enough and they had to bring in portable classrooms.

Booze-ups in breweries comes to mind.

growstuff

Anybody fancy going into business with me hiring out portable classrooms?

www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/06/boom-for-prefab-classroom-makers-as-england-schools-raac-crisis-deepens

I have about 47p of capital, virtually no business experience, but I had a chat with the landlord of Matt Hancock's local pub and apparently it's easy.

Love this! [grin} Gave me a great laugh to start the day.

Glorianny

growstuff

Anybody fancy going into business with me hiring out portable classrooms?

www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/06/boom-for-prefab-classroom-makers-as-england-schools-raac-crisis-deepens

I have about 47p of capital, virtually no business experience, but I had a chat with the landlord of Matt Hancock's local pub and apparently it's easy.

Love this! [grin} Gave me a great laugh to start the day.

I loved it, too

Sadly, growstuff, I'd join you in the enterprise but I don't think I could bring myself to donate enough to the tory party to induce them to consider us...

What is puzzling me is that Head Teachers are being criticised for not providing the information promptly enough about the construction of their schools.

I might be rather naïve but surely it is the Department for Education in the relevant Governments, the architectural firms, building surveyors and the builders who would hold the plans for the schools? Aren't Head Teachers responsible for the education (and welfare) of their pupils?

Or are they supposed to be surveyors and facilities managers now as well?

Callistemon21

😁
You may laugh but as soon as the new primary school here was built it wasn't large enough and they had to bring in portable classrooms.

Booze-ups in breweries comes to mind.

That happens quite frequently. Councils usually do five year projections, but nobody seems to think about schools when new housing is built.

growstuff

Callistemon21

😁
You may laugh but as soon as the new primary school here was built it wasn't large enough and they had to bring in portable classrooms.

Booze-ups in breweries comes to mind.

That happens quite frequently. Councils usually do five year projections, but nobody seems to think about schools when new housing is built.

They had an expansion plan in place for the town and surrounding area for years!
Joined up thinking?

Callistemon Buildings would have been commissioned by local education authorities or their predecessors. There was a huge change in the 1970s and I suspect the plans are hidden away in some basement. Local councils should have planning documents in their archives, but I don't suppose headteachers have the time to search for them - and they probably haven't thought it would be necessary.

You're right - headteachers wouldn't really know what they're looking for.

Callistemon21

growstuff

Callistemon21

😁
You may laugh but as soon as the new primary school here was built it wasn't large enough and they had to bring in portable classrooms.

Booze-ups in breweries comes to mind.

That happens quite frequently. Councils usually do five year projections, but nobody seems to think about schools when new housing is built.

They had an expansion plan in place for the town and surrounding area for years!
Joined up thinking?

I don't know about Wales, but in England, new schools can't be built until there's a need. School places can't be provided and left empty until they're needed.

Fair enough, but so often estates of houses are built without any infrastructure to support the incoming population.

Yep - as a former SLT member in a number of schools I can assure you that all I know about building structures could be written on a pinhead.
Growstuff, count me in : how hard can it be?
I'm thinking of names for the yacht I will buy....

Chocolatelovinggran

Yep - as a former SLT member in a number of schools I can assure you that all I know about building structures could be written on a pinhead.
Growstuff, count me in : how hard can it be?
I'm thinking of names for the yacht I will buy....

Count me in as the delivery man! It costs almost as much to have them brought in and taken away as the things themselves! Small fortune to be made.

Blimey PMQs was brutal. Sunak seemed to shrink.

Joseann

Chocolatelovinggran

Yep - as a former SLT member in a number of schools I can assure you that all I know about building structures could be written on a pinhead.
Growstuff, count me in : how hard can it be?
I'm thinking of names for the yacht I will buy....

Count me in as the delivery man! It costs almost as much to have them brought in and taken away as the things themselves! Small fortune to be made.

Do you have an Abnormal Load Vehicle Permit? If not, don't worry. We'll get the Secretary of State to burn all the pesky red tape.

There are 24,323 schools in England of which 147 have been sited as having problems with RAAC, 24 of these have switched to online learning.

Serious yes, but only a small percentage of schools are currently identified as being unsafe.

Will the percentage grow, probably but nobody knows by how much.

Oops source Google/UGov

At least 54 of them are situated in Essex.

Source:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-66681227

Essex County Council has 647 schools (not counting the ones in Thurrock and Southend), so nearly 10% are affected in some way.

Will allowances in public exams be made for the minority of pupils affected?

I still think that Essex were more on the ball than anywhere else in assessing their schools, and that hundreds more will be found UK wide when the surveys are completed.

growstuff

Will allowances in public exams be made for the minority of pupils affected?

Possibly, but you would hope that won’t be necessary, surely temporary solutions will be found somehow, and the schools will prioritise accommodating GCSE and A level students where there are partial closures? It would be so unfair on students otherwise.

I'm still not sure about that Casdon. Most of the schools are academies, so Essex County Council wouldn't have been responsible for the surveys.

As I mentioned before, Essex has more schools than almost any other county. I'm familiar with a number of the schools affected and they're in areas which experience huge population growth in the post war years. Most of the schools were put up cheaply to cope with the growth and ROSLA. Nearly all the secondary schools are former secondary moderns, which replaced delapidated elementary schools. They were usually built in the same style.

I guess we'll just have to wait for the final tally. Hopefully, it won't be 10% across the country, but it's not going to be a small number.

Casdon

growstuff

Will allowances in public exams be made for the minority of pupils affected?

Possibly, but you would hope that won’t be necessary, surely temporary solutions will be found somehow, and the schools will prioritise accommodating GCSE and A level students where there are partial closures? It would be so unfair on students otherwise.

The school I know best was featured in the Guardian yesterday. The headteacher has had to close the school because so many classrooms are affected. He said there's a 16 week wait for portable classrooms, so the school will almost certainly remain closed until after Christmas.

growstuff

At least 54 of them are situated in Essex.

Source:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-66681227

Essex County Council has 647 schools (not counting the ones in Thurrock and Southend), so nearly 10% are affected in some way.

Yes as I said upthread one is extremely close to me, only having Yr 7 and Yr 11 on-site (unless that has changed since this morning)

growstuff

I'm still not sure about that Casdon. Most of the schools are academies, so Essex County Council wouldn't have been responsible for the surveys.

As I mentioned before, Essex has more schools than almost any other county. I'm familiar with a number of the schools affected and they're in areas which experience huge population growth in the post war years. Most of the schools were put up cheaply to cope with the growth and ROSLA. Nearly all the secondary schools are former secondary moderns, which replaced delapidated elementary schools. They were usually built in the same style.

I guess we'll just have to wait for the final tally. Hopefully, it won't be 10% across the country, but it's not going to be a small number.

I don’t know either growstuff, I just doubt that Essex is unique in having either lots of academies or high population growth. I’m a cynic I think, but my gut tells me there will be many, many more.

GrannyGravy13

growstuff

At least 54 of them are situated in Essex.

Source:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-66681227

Essex County Council has 647 schools (not counting the ones in Thurrock and Southend), so nearly 10% are affected in some way.

Yes as I said upthread one is extremely close to me, only having Yr 7 and Yr 11 on-site (unless that has changed since this morning)

But the number of schools affected isn't a small number.