Raac: Abingdon school in row with government over tests

Headteacher Jonathan Dennett said the school has been "has been well maintained despite its age"

A school has staggered its opening for the new term after a dispute with the government over unsafe concrete.

Larkmead School in Abingdon blamed the situation on delays from a government survey into reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) in the school.

It said the Department for Education (DfE) was sent a questionnaire in July identifying three possibly-affected corridors.

However, the DfE said they did not hear from the school until two weeks ago.

As a result, senior leadership decided to move learning online for three year groups for the start of term.

After conducting its own tests, the school said it was "in good, well-maintained condition and fully open" from Monday.

The school described the partial closure as "precautionary and proportionate".

A structural engineer visited the site on 3 August and issued a report to the DfE, which the school said it has not seen.

'Needless disruption'

The school said apart from a call on 1 September, it has had "no further communication from the government since then, despite contacting the DfE as a school and a Multi Academy Trust, with further contact and support from Oxfordshire County Council and Layla Moran MP".

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Moran called the situation "unacceptable" and said she was "thoroughly unimpressed" with the government.

"They have been incredibly slow to process RAAC surveys which has resulted in unnecessary closures," she said.

She said Larkmead "should never have been forced to close buildings" and said it caused "needless disruption" to students at the start of term.

A government spokesperson said: "We are continuing to ramp up the surveys of suspected RAAC and where it is identified we are allocating schools with a case worker to help put in mitigations or temporary accommodation as quickly as possible."

According to the DfE "responsible bodies" were sent Raac questionnaires in 2022 and they have been "proactive in following up with them".

Larkmead is one of four schools in Oxfordshire that were part of the Building Schools for the Future programme, and was "next on the list for rebuilding" when funding was scrapped in 2010.