An education trust is facing an "uncertain financial future" after spending hundreds of thousands of pounds to mitigate the reinforced concrete crisis at a North East school, an MP has warned.
Mary Kelly Foy said St Leonard’s School in Durham, one of the worst affected in the country by RAAC, has had to build temporary classrooms but not yet been reimbursed by the Government.
A new build facility is in the pipeline but will not be ready until 2026 at the earliest and the Durham City MP said Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust Durham has already spent a considerable amount of money creating a "demountable school".
Durham City MP Mary Foy (Image: Contributor)
Ms Foy said: “The trust faces an uncertain financial future.
“Despite the DFE claiming all RAAC associated costs would be funded by the Government, the trust has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds to order the new semi-permanent demountable school, and other equipment but has not yet received a penny for this.
“The school has not received reimbursement for costs accrued to date.
“This is putting pressure on the trust’s finite resources.”
Ms Foy, who has secured a Westminster Hall debate today (Tuesday, November 21) about the problem, said she asked the Department for Education to guarantee funding for the school at pre-RAAC crisis levels to ensure it does not have to make cost savings.
The school has also been forced to send most of its 1,500 pupils to another site as it desperately tries to reintroduce face-to-face learning.
Many children had been learning online from home but concerns remain over the lack of specialist equipment for lessons such as science, design and technology, music and PE.
It is understood the DfE has funded the lease for facilities at Ushaw College, where several year groups are being educated, directly with the landlord.
But Ms Foy said children based at Ushaw College can be taught in groups of 60, and lessons in the sports hall are partitioned into smaller rooms, with no roof, making classes noisy and difficult environments to teach and learn in.
The school site also lacks hot catering facilities and pupils are being provided with packed lunches.
Ms Foy said: “Free school meal pupils are receiving vouchers to cover this cost but for many of these, a hot meal at school may be the only hot food they eat that day.
“The school currently have no timescale for when these facilities will be ordered by the DfE and delivered to the school.”
Pupils have been severely disrupted by the problems (Image: Northern Echo)Parents of GCSE and A-level students had hoped special consideration would be given by the Ofqual and the DfE when it comes to grading exams.
At present pupils will not be given any mitigation despite them now entering the 11th week of disruption to their education.
Ms Foy said: “At present, the DfE and Ofqual claim that these closures are not exceptional circumstances.
“Pupils at present would receiving more mitigation in their exams, if a fire alarm sounded during the examination than for their school being closed for a term.
“The lack of specialist practical facilities underlines that teaching has not returned to “business as usual” for every subject area, and it is unacceptable that pupils have been abandoned.”
The trust has commissioned a study by Durham University to assess the impact of the RAAC closure on their pupils, to support their case to Ofqual, the DfE and exam boards.
During the debate at 4pm today (Tuesday), Ms Foy will also raise concerns about the effect the issue is having on teaching staff who are ‘working tirelessly’ to ensure pupils can catch up on lost learning.
Ms Foy said: “Staff are travelling between school sites to support children.
“There is concern that if this is not resolved quickly teaching staff will reach burnout."
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Ms Foy added: “It is anything but business at usual at St Leonard’s school.
“I hope this debate will make clear to the Government the immense challenges the school community continues to face, and the urgent action that is needed to ensure pupils do not suffer lifelong disadvantage because ministers failed to ensure they had a safe school to study in.”
A Department For Education Spokesperson said: “The safety of staff and pupils is paramount, and we have been working at pace with schools to identify RAAC and support them to minimise disruption – all pupils at St Leonard’s are now in face-to-face education.
“As with all schools affected by RAAC, we are taking every step possible to remove any obstacles to learning. We have worked with St Leonard’s on extra education support for their pupils and put the school in touch with other schools that can offer specialist facilities.
“We will remove RAAC from the school and college estate and ensure remediation work is carried out swiftly and with as little disruption as possible.”
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