Hadleigh school getting more classrooms due to concrete crisis

Sarah Skinner, chief executive of the Penrose Learning Trust, said the new classrooms would be "excellent"

A school where collapse-prone concrete was found is installing more temporary classrooms eight months after the problem was first identified.

Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (Raac) was found in several buildings at Hadleigh High School near Ipswich last year.

Several classrooms were closed off and temporary buildings were erected.

Specialist science laboratories and design technology (DT) classrooms are due to be installed.

Sarah Skinner, the chief executive of Penrose Learning Trust which runs several schools in Suffolk, said: "We've had temporary classrooms put in, but they were what I'd call an ordinary classroom rather than a specialist room.

"We are undertaking the installation of four science labs and two DT rooms, but access to the site is quite problematic - running utilities out onto the field, which was the only space we had for that size of build."

She added that she expected students to be able to use the new classrooms by the start of July.

The existing temporary classrooms at Hadleigh High School do not have specialist facilities

As the Raac was discovered in September, Ms Skinner said some Year 7 students had not been in a science laboratory yet, which was "disheartening for both them and us, so this project will be really key to being able to deliver the curriculum in the way we want".

It is not yet known when the students will be able to return to permanent classrooms - a complete rebuild could take several years.

The new temporary classrooms will replace more ordinary standard mobile units

The science labs will have water and gas supplies, as well as experiment preparation rooms.

In terms of the financing of the project, Ms Skinner said that capital costs for Raac-related work were covered by the Department for Education, and the specialist laboratories were being procured by the department.

She said that everyone at the school had been "incredibly tolerant and incredibly supportive" over the last few months.

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