Raac: Students at Southend special needs school 'thrown into chaos' over concrete scandal

A mother of a child with special needs caught up in the concrete school scandal says she cannot understand why parents were not given more notice that schools were going to shut.

Kingsdown School in Southend in Essex called parents of students on Thursday to tell them the news that the school would be closed next week due to aerated concrete used in its construction, which could collapse.

Melanie Styles, whose 12-year-old daughter Jessica is about to start her last year at Kingsdown, said the situation would disrupt her daughter's routine.

"She has severe autism so she needs her routine, she needs her regularity, she needs her continuity," said Ms Styles, 40.

"What I don't understand is the government have known about this since June, so why have they done it now?

"Why are they doing these inspections now, why have they not done it before, why didn't they do it at the beginning of the summer holidays?"

Headteacher Louise Robinson had to call parents to break the news.

"Instead of preparing to welcome our students back to class, we're having to call parents to have very difficult conversations about the fact the school is closed next week," she said.

"We're hoping that a solution can be found that allows us to open the school, at least partially, but that entirely relies on ensuring the safety of our pupils and staff, and approval by DfE."

It comes amid chaos across the country as 104 schools and colleges have been told by the Department for Education to partially or fully close buildings just as students prepare to return after the summer holidays.

Mistley Norman near Manningtree in Essex had to close its main building earlier this year for the same issue, and that building remains shut.

Parent Rebecca Kemp says she now feels they are finally being heard.

"Hopefully this can only escalate our cause because I feel like we weren't heard really, that we were just one of a few schools that this had happened to.

"But actually no we are one of hundreds of schools," she said.

Bernard Jenkin, the MP for Harwich and North Essex, said 65 schools were affected in Essex and the county council has confirmed at least 50.

Lydia Hyde, Labour and Co-operative Party councillor for Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, said the situation was "awful" and a plan should have been made in March when the school was first inspected.

"The impact on the families, it's difficult enough to get babysitting arrangements, but for children with additional needs it's virtually impossible.

"We're going to see parents not being able to go to work, siblings where parents would have taken them to school might not be able to.

"There's going to be big questions asked about how this was allowed to happen, why the families have been thrown into such chaos."

Helen Boyd, the cabinet member for children's services, education and learning, added: "The last thing anyone wants is for a tragedy to occur and for that reason, the DfE have been clear that there is absolutely no choice but to close the school."

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