PARENTS have spoken of their increasing frustration as disruption continues at the two schools in Warwick hit by the crumbling concrete crisis.
Myton School and Aylesford School were both announced by the government as among the over 100 schools across the country to be affected by the use of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in some of their buildings.
The headteachers from both schools were forced to write to parents before the start of term to inform them they were unable to fully open to all pupils amid safety concerns about the concrete used in some areas of their schools.
And, several weeks on, teaching at both schools is far from back to “normal”.
At Aylesford School many of the 1,200 pupils are still learning remotely.
Headteacher Tim Hodgson explained that the school has been put on the Department for Education complex case list because while it suspects it has RAAC due to the age of the building, it cannot have this confirmed until the asbestos that has been discovered has been removed.
More than 30 classrooms are out of use and classes are using two science labs on rotation when they normally have eight.
Eighteen temporary classrooms have been ordered and are due to be installed on the netball courts in November.
A parent of a year 8 pupil who has been learning from home told the BBC that she has had to juggle running her business from home and looking after not only her own children, but the friends of her son whose parents are out at work.
She continued: “The problem is this is affecting such a small amount of children that they are the forgotten kids. They’ve had the two years of Covid, they’ve had the teachers’ strike days, now we aren’t thought about because no one else is going through this.”
A grandparent has also written to the chair of governors at the school, Tim Dumbleton-Thomas to raise his grave concerns about the day-to-day educational provision.
Richard Lord wrote that his grandson in year 8, who has special needs, hasn’t had any face-to-face lessons this year and he was becoming increasingly disaffected.
All year groups are set to return to Myton School for face-to-face teaching next week but headteacher Andy Perry warned in a letter to parents that the school’s 1,600 students should expect “lots of disruptive scheduling” due to the lack of classrooms.
RAAC panelling was confirmed to be in the first floor of the Lower School building by inspectors in September – affecting the maths, languages, art and drama classrooms as well as a medical room and the canteen.
A total of 30 rooms have been lost due to the presence of RAAC.
In his letter, Mr Perry continued that an initial 13 temporary classrooms are being installed, including the maths facility, on the north playground and should be ready to use after half-term on November 6.
