Parents' plea for exam help for Raac-hit school

Parents say children were disadvantaged by the disruption caused by Raac

Parents at a school affected by crumbling concrete in its buildings say they are "disappointed" the government has not done more to help their children.

St Leonard's Catholic School in Durham was forced to close in September due to Raac, with pupils taught in temporary classrooms.

Nicola Cook, whose son is awaiting his A-level results, had hoped the government would boost grades at the school by up to 10% as recommended in a report.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson urged higher education bodies to consider the impact of Raac when assessing applications.

To make up for the fact many of its buildings had to be closed, the school set up 10 temporary classrooms in a sports hall, according to Ms Cook.

"You could have a music lesson going on in the room next to you with a German or Spanish lesson on the other side," she said, adding children at the school had been massively disadvantaged through "no fault of their own".

'Continued frustration'

Professor Stephen Gorard, an education expert at Durham University, published a report earlier this year which suggested exam boards should compensate pupils at schools like St Leonard's for "lost learning" with a boost of up to 10% in their exams.

He said that while it was good pupils had been given extended coursework deadlines, this was "not enough".

The fact they have more time on this work still means they are left with less time to study for their exams, he said.

City of Durham MP, Labour's Mary Kelly Foy, said she understood the "continued frustration" of families at the school.

"With the arrival of exam results looming, this new government must learn from the failures of the last one," she said.

"I’d implore them to support St Leonard’s."

Posting on social media, Ms Phillipson said parents of pupils at St Leonard's had contacted her.

She wrote: "The Department for Education, Ofqual, UCAS and the Office for Students have worked to ensure higher education providers are aware of the circumstances that have been faced by students who attended schools with RAAC.

"They have asked that higher education providers take the impact of disruption into account when considering admissions."

A DfE spokesperson said staff knew Raac had been "disruptive" and the qualifications body had published further guidance for schools as to what "special consideration" may apply.