'Emergency' closure for Quinton primary school at risk from crumbling concrete

More than 100 schools across the country have been affected by Raac.
More than 100 schools across the country have been affected by Raac. Credit: PA

A primary school in Birmingham is facing an 'emergency' closure after it was found to be at risk from crumbling concrete.

Woodhouse Primary Academy in Quinton has joined a list of schools across the UK which were built using a potentially dangerous, lightweight, building material known as reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac).

Students have now switched to online learning after parents and carers were told that the school could not completely ensure their safety.

"We cannot completely ensure the safety of everyone"

A letter issued to parents and carers of pupils on Wednesday evening, signed by headteacher Oliver Wilson, reads:

“Following the letter that you received yesterday which explained that there was a possibility that there may be Raac present in our school, we have been unable to establish the necessary reassurances that there is no Raac present.

“Therefore, we cannot completely ensure the safety of everyone within the school building at this time.

“When we received the latest updates from the DfE (Department for Education) around Raac on August 31 2023, we acted without delay to arrange surveys to provide us with definitive evidence that there was no Raac present.

“These are in addition to our own condition survey that had already been completed in the summer term.

"Our survey identified that there may be some risk and we then commissioned the DfE survey. We are still awaiting a survey.”

The letter added that the school will be closed until authorities can confirm that children and staff are safe to enter the building.

It continued:

“We are now working as fast as we can to put in place surveys which will give us the confidence that we need to reopen the school and we will endeavour to resolve this as quickly as possible so that pupils are only learning remotely for as short a period of time as possible.”

Labour's Birmingham Edgbaston MP Preet Kaur Gill posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, slamming "13 years of Tory incompetence" which she says led to the closure of Woodhouse Primary Academy.

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