Leicester school told by DfE to close building finds it has no Raac
The Guardian A school that scrambled to set up temporary classrooms after the Department for Education (DfE) ordered closures because of Raac has received a government apology after it turned out it did not have the crumbly concrete after all.
The government has published a list of 145 schools with Raac, nine fewer than it announced last Thursday, suggesting that last weeks order to close buildings was overcautious in several cases.
Willowbrook Mead primary school in Leicester will now fully reopen, days after being instructed to immediately close its key stage 2 block. It was among 104 schools in England told to close at least some spaces because of the presence of the out-of-date material.
The decision at Willowbrook was based on a DfE-commissioned survey, according to the school, but its own survey in June showed it had no Raac, and another survey this week confirmed that.
The school said staff had to work non-stop to move furniture and create new spaces, and in a letter to families it described the situation as frustrating. One parent told the Guardian it was a maddening example of the Raac omnishambles.
