Pupils in 'unsafe' school given site 16 miles away

Prudhoe Community High School closed to pupils on Monday 17 February after cracks were found in the building

Pupils at a school which had to be shut due to cracks will now be taught about 16 miles (26km) away for the "foreseeable future", bosses have confirmed.

Prudhoe Community High School in Northumberland was shut on 17 February and pupils were initially told they would not be able to return until 3 March.

But the Cheviot Learning Trust then told parents the school would be closed for "six to nine months as a minimum" after the building - built nine years ago - was found to be unsafe.

It has now said pupils will be taught at Sunderland College's Washington Campus, meaning pupils will have to take a 32-mile (52km) round trip each day.

Trust chief executive Alice Witherow said the team was grateful to the college for "their collaboration and support in making this solution possible".

She said the team had received "many messages of support" from parents and the wider community in recent weeks.

"[It] has been a real lift for all of us," she said, adding: "It is a real team effort and we are really grateful."

Trust chief executive Alice Witherow said she was grateful to Sunderland College

The trust said the building in Washington would only be used by its school pupils and it would be for the "foreseeable future", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

It said the children would be bussed from Prudhoe to the college and back again each day, and that everyone would be "entitled to a space".

Education Partnership North East, which Sunderland College is a part of, said it was committed to serving communities in the region.

Neither body said when exactly pupils would start learning at the site. Students are currently being taught online.

Prudhoe Community High School was built in 2016 at a cost of £14.6m under the previous Conservative government's priority school building programme (PSBP).