Clevedon School in North Somerset has to close main building due to problem concrete

A school in North Somerset has had to close its main building due to "structural weaknesses" in its 60-year-old buildings.

Clevedon School has had to close a quarter of its site - including 22 classrooms, offices and storage space - due to issues caused by high alumina cement concrete (HACC).

The secondary school, which has about 1,350 students, says temporary arrangements have been made to keep all children in school with plans being made to create a "learning village" on site.

Students are being taught in large spaces and officers are also being used as classrooms.

The issue was discovered by structural engineers during an inspection and is unrelated to the national Raac issue. The school received the all-clear from Raac during a separate survey in May.

While this type of concrete is not the same issue as Raac the problems, the issues it causes are very similar.

Headteacher Jim Smith said: “I would like to take this opportunity to praise our school community for the way they have approached their learning this week.

"In difficult times they have, in the spirit of our school motto, been kind and brilliant.”

The school says it's looking at options to restore classroom capacity as soon as possible.

Temporary props may be put in place throughout the tower block to ensure the building is at full strength. Work could begin to do this later this week, but the building currently remains empty.

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