Parents and school chiefs at the “most affected” RAAC school have told the government they are "failing our children" after being snubbed for exam dispensations despite a term-and-a-half of disruption.

St Leonard’s, in Durham City, is one of only two secondary schools in the country that had to completely close down last September after the crumbling concrete crisis broke.

After 18 weeks of disrupted learning, the school at the chaotic epicentre of the RAAC crisis has again been told that students sitting GCSEs and A-levels will not receive any exam dispensations this summer, despite education experts advising a boost as big as ten per cent.

In one instance, Nicola Cook has said her son, who has special educational needs, is “galloping towards his A-levels” with “no sign of support” from the government.

It has been "very challenging" to find a university that meets his requirements - but having settled on a course at York, the family are now faced with "heartbreak", as a disrupted final year could mean he does not meet his offer requirements. 

She said: "Despite the school writing to all exam boards and admissions officers of all universities (as per the DfE initial recommendations), he has not received any contextualised offers from Russell Group unis. He needs AAA to take up his place at University of York."

Her son, who preferred to remain anonymous, has been diagnosed with autism and specifically moved to St Leonard's for the SEND provisions. The course at York had been chosen to meet his intellectual needs, and will help him become "independent and self-sufficient." 

"We really don’t have a plan B for him. Morale is at an all-time low, the children feel abandoned by the government, and bitter about the unfairness of the situation.

"My child is exceptionally worried about his grades and has said he has mentally kissed his A*s goodbye."

Parents and the Bishop Wilkinson Education Trust, which runs St Leonard’s, have vowed that “[the government] have not seen the last of us”, saying that the DfE was “refusing to accept the facts” about the “relentless nature of the disruption”.

The Northern Echo: Pupils at St Leonard's in Durham have been unable to return to school properly because of RAAC

The trust’s chief executive, Nick Hurn OBE, Ms Kelly Foy, and Kevan Jones MP attended a meeting with ministers Damian Hinds and Baroness Barran last Wednesday (January 24). 

Mr Hurn OBE said: "At the meeting, Mary Kelly Foy MP and I presented, with support from Kevan Jones MP, a wide range of evidence including the impact assessment report from Durham University.

"We catalogued the relentless nature of the disruption that has occurred for all of our children but particularly those taking exams this summer, since September 2023.

"We argued that anyone who claimed with any objectivity that this has not had a negative impact on the exam chances of the students at the school is refusing to accept the facts."

Although the education ministers emphasised they were "sympathetic" to the situation at St Leonard's, they said that the current exam framework and regulations prevented any possible intervention by the Secretary of State without a change to the law.

The Northern Echo:

Now, parents have spoken out about how "the government is failing to acknowledge there is an ongoing problem, failing the pupils, failing the teachers, failing the parents, failing to act. "

Ms Cook continued to stress that she thought the Government was going to do "right" by the children but they have instead been left abandoned.

She added: “There was so much hanging on that meeting, we thought they were going to do right by our children and match actions with propaganda.

“But the Department for Education is standing by this incorrect line, covering over all the disruption our children are facing by saying everyone is back in face-to-face teaching – but children are in temporary classrooms, with no access to science labs, or food tech, or any enrichment subjects.

“I have sent so many letters – to my MP Richard Holden, to Rishi Sunak, to Gillian Keegan, and I have never had a response. They just want the problem to disappear – but we won’t give up.

“It shouldn’t be a political decision, but it feels like if your school falls in a Labour safe seat in an election year, the government won’t do anything to help. They’re so detached and out of touch with reality.

“They’re ignoring us, and they’re ignoring the evidence – they’re so detached and out of touch with reality. By doing that, they’re sending the message that our children do not matter.

Nicola explained that at St Leonard’s, dubbed the secondary school “worst affected” by RAAC, students are still learning in cold buildings across multiple sites, with limited hot food, desk space, specialist equipment, SEND provision, and one-to-one support.

The Northern Echo: Some students are being taught in pop up classrooms in the school's sports hall.

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Her son, who also has anxiety, has been left so stressed by the situation this year he is having to meet with the school counsellor once a week.

She said: “Our children are in the most critical situation – but they’re just the tip of the iceberg. The DfE knows that, and they don’t want to help us, because they know they’ll have to help other schools elsewhere in the country.”

“It’s like Covid all over again – but worse. We’re in this alone, rather than everybody being in it together.”

Michelle Bellamy, who has a daughter in her final year at St Leonard's, has catalogued a list of "government failings". 

She said: "This government is failing our children. Failing to acknowledge there is an ongoing problem, failing the pupils, failing the teachers, failing the parents, failing to act. 

"Pupils know that the government doesn’t care enough to intervene. It feels as if the government are just waiting for us to run out of time, stonewalling until it’s too late to do anything about it anyway.  

"What we’re asking for is not unreasonable, we are not looking for the pupils to be handed higher grades.

"We are just asking that consideration be given to the fact that they’ve been let down and not had access to the same teaching and learning as their peers with whom they will be competing for university places this summer."