School closes after cracks found in building

Prudhoe Community High School is housed in a building which was completed in 2016

A school which was built in 2016 has closed after "a number of cracks" were found in the building.

Prudhoe Community High School in Northumberland is shut until Friday, and with half-term the following week, pupils will not return until 3 March at the earliest.

The school is part of the Cheviot Learning Trust and a statement on its website said the closure was "recommended by structural engineers".

It added: "Our primary concerns are safety and the continuity of our pupils' education, and each decision we make keeps these at the forefront."

The school was built at a cost of £14.6m under the previous Conservative government's priority school building programme (PSBP), which has now been withdrawn.

The trust says engineers are investigating the "cause and seriousness" of the cracks with an outcome available "before the end of February".

In the meantime, the school is arranging for learning to continue online.

Northumberland County Council's cabinet member of children's services Guy Renner-Thompson said: "They think it's a bit of ground subsidence, there was a lot of mining in that area.

"We've given them a building in Prudhoe for their senior leadership team to use.

"From a council point of view, we're just supporting them the best we can, but they've got two weeks now to check everything over.

"If the kids need to go elsewhere we'll be looking at buildings, things like that."