Willowbrook Mead primary academy on the outskirts of Leicester was a hive of activity on Friday morning as staff moved tables, chairs and bookcases from brick buildings into a nearby portable building.
But the activity is not the usual hustle and bustle of a new academic year. Just two days into the new term, Willowbrook Mead has been forced to close its doors to students while safety works are carried out.
It is one of a number of schools that have had the beginning of term plunged into chaos after the government found more than 150 schools contained buildings made from potentially dangerous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), which has been assessed as being at risk of collapse.
“It was a bit of a surprise, the kids have just gone back to school, and we just found out yesterday,” said Mohammad Younis, who has a 10-year-old daughter at the school.
“It is alarming if something like this is there in a lot of schools and it’s taken them this long to reach the conclusion that it can be dangerous. But I’m sure they are sorting it out so the kids can go back soon.”
The school, which has about 450 pupils and is run by the Mead Educational Trust, said it had been contacted by the Department for Education warning that part of its site contained Raac.
On Friday morning a stream of staff could be seen moving chairs and tables and boxes of learning materials from an affected building into a portable cabin on site, while other items, including sports equipment, were being loaded in to vans.
Workers were at the school, climbing on to its flat roof buildings and drilling, although staff declined to comment on what work was being carried out.
Sarah Ridley, the chief executive of the trust, said: “The safety of pupils and staff is our first priority so we are taking every precaution so that no one is put at risk.”
A number of families stopped by the school, on the Thurnby Lodge estate in east Leicester, at lunchtime to pick up free packed lunches for their children, and pupils are being taught online while the building remains closed. But the last-minute closure has caused problems for some.
“I’m not able to go to work because I can’t take my son with me, I’ve had to take time off,” said one mother, who asked not be named. She has two sons aged eight and nine at the school and said she first found out about the closure when she picked them up from school on Thursday.
“The kids had been kept outside the classroom since 1.30pm,” she said. “A mum in the playground said: ‘Are the kids happy?’ and I said: ‘What, to be back at school?’ and she said they were closing again. I was like: ‘You’re joking?’ Especially with them just having six weeks off as well.
“And it’s as frustrating for the kids as it is to us. I don’t see how they’re going to be able to sort it out quickly.”
The news that a collapsed beam at another school over the summer prompted the government to issue warnings and close schools has caused alarm among some parents.
“Something could have fallen on them. If it’s that bad that they’re closing the school, anything could have happened. It is quite scary,” said the mother.
“It does feel a bit like we’re back in Covid but we’re OK,” added another parent. “But you can already see work happening on site and it seems as if they’re trying to fix it as soon as possible.”
