Council expects to find more school ceiling issues

Avenue Junior School in Norwich was closed for three days after "urgent concerns" were identified with some of its ceilings

It is expected that more schools in Norfolk will be found to have damaged ceilings as safety inspections continue.

Norfolk County Council has been looking for signs of wear and tear in 23 schools, after a junior school in Norwich was forced to shut over concerns in its lath and plaster ceilings earlier this month.

The authority said it was now looking into potential problems at a further 37 school buildings. So far, six have been found to need repair.

James Wilson, a council director responsible for school maintenance, said: "I would expect a few more to be added to the list once all the checks have been completed."

James Wilson said 15 inspections had been carried out so far

The council said the lath and plaster material was not a cause for concern, but ceilings could be "at risk of collapsing" if it was damaged.

The material was used from the early 18th Century, through to the early to mid 20th Century.

A full list of the schools being investigated has been posted on the council's website.

Mr Wilson said 15 inspections had been carried out so far and six schools were identified as having an issue that needed repair.

They were:

• Avenue Junior School in Norwich

• Parkside School in Norwich

• Brooke Primary School

• Woodton Primary School

• Hainford Primary School

• Freethorpe Community Primary School.

"There is a chance that by the end of this week and next week at the latest, some more will be identified where something could happen," said Mr Wilson.

"But we will know that pretty quickly. The overall risk is pretty low here."

'Rapid action'

The authority said it had risk-assessed all of the schools it was responsible for maintaining.

It also wrote to academy trusts recommending they checked their ceilings and notified the Department for Education.

Mr Wilson said child safety had to come first.

"This is something that's come to light only recently," he said.

"We were judged that the level of risk was low in this instance. But if there is any risk to children, we felt the need to take pretty rapid action to ensure that."

Oliver Burwood from the DNEAT group of academies said 18 out of their 42 schools were being inspected

The head of one academy group in Norfolk said that, based on the age of their buildings, 18 out of their 42 schools could be affected.

Oliver Burwood, Chief Executive of the Diocese of Norwich Education and Academies Trust (DNEAT), said that visual inspections had been carried out already, with a professional survey company commissioned to look at all of them.

"Depending on the outcome of the surveys, we are likely to look at a prioritised replacement programme for this type of ceiling," he said.

He added that parents of all affected schools had been written to.

The National Education Union said it welcomed the action and was reassured that the council was taking the appropriate measures to "ensure colleagues and the children they teach are in a safe environment".

The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.