Head at Milton Keynes High School fears exams could be disrupted after Raac found in sports hall

The head teacher of a school which has been forced to close two of its buildings fears the problems could lead to yet more exam disruption.

Dr Andrea Frame who runs the 1,800-pupil Denbigh High School says the closure of the sports hall and gym will impact both children and staff.

The Milton Keynes school identified issues with Raac - the crumbling concrete which had a shelf-life of around 30 years - in November last year.

She said: "Big spaces like the gym and sports hall are really important to us...It will have impacts when we get to exam periods, and we have other big events in the school that we might hold there like parents evenings.

"All of those are having to be thought about very carefully."

More than 150 schools have been identified as having issues with Raac, as well as a number of other buildings like the Royal and Derngate Theatre in Northampton and the University of East Anglia in Norfolk.

Denbigh High was granted funding to carry out repair works earlier this summer, but the work is not expected to be completed until early next year.

For now, dozens of scaffolding props are holding up the roof of the sports hall, while students and staff have been told it is no longer safe to access the gym.

Dr Frame said someone should have seen the crisis coming.

She said: "The Raac that was put in schools and other buildings 30 plus years ago, it was known to have a finite lifespan at the time.

"So the government at the time knew which schools it was going into and they would have known that they needed to do something about it in 30 years' time.

"Schools don't know what's in their buildings, they take their buildings over from the local authorities, so they must know which schools had it and they should have processes and plans in place and funding should have been set aside for that.

"It's something they decided to ignore for whatever reason and it is something they should have planned for."

The government has pledged to fund the repair work and any temporary buildings needed to teach children.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...