Derbyshire School set to delay term start over RAAC safety concerns says safety of children ‘paramount’

St Edward's Catholic Voluntary Academy, in Swadlincote, has announced the term start will be delayed due to potential issues with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

Pupils were set to start the new school year today, on September 4, but the school is set to stay closed until next week, while the investigation continues.

Kevin Gritton, Chief Executive of the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust, which runs the school, said: “Following the Government announcement about concerns over the long term durability of RAAC, a potential issue has been identified at St Edward’s Catholic Voluntary Academy.

“As a result we have informed staff and parents at St Edward’s that we will need to delay the start to term until Monday, September 11th. This is to allow further investigations to take place.

“The safety of our staff and pupils is paramount and current Government guidance is that no staff or pupils enter any areas where there is suspected RAAC.

“We are working as quickly as possible to confirm the existence of RAAC and then inform parents and staff of what steps, if any, need to be taken to ensure the safety of staff and pupils.

“We will keep in regular contact with parents to inform them of the updated arrangements for the week commencing Monday, September 11."

This comes after more than 100 schools and colleges in England have been told they will need to close buildings and classrooms which contain RAAC – concrete considered dangerous – by the Department of Education.

The decision was announced on Thursday, August 31, just before the start of the new school year and was prompted by a beam that collapsed over the summer. The list of schools affected has not been released yet.

On Friday, September 1, Derbyshire County Council confirmed that ‘to the best of their knowledge’ there is no RAAC in local authority-maintained schools in Derbyshire.