You may have seen coverage in the news this week about school closures due to their buildings containing Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).
This is a worrying time for schools, parents and pupils. At this stage, the Royal Borough is not aware of any RAAC in any state schools in the Royal Borough, with the one exception of St Francis Catholic Primary School in Ascot. RAAC was identified in part of the school in July 2023, and the affected areas were closed.
In liaison with the Department for Education and us, the academy trust responsible for St Francis has arranged alternative classroom accommodation on-site to allow the school to re-open to all pupils at the start of the new academic year and has been in touch directly with parents around those arrangements.
The Borough continues to work closely with the Department of Education on its programme of RAAC identification in schools, and schools will keep parents updated with any developments.
The Royal Borough is the Responsible Body for community and voluntary controlled schools. It commissioned a RAAC survey of our school buildings in 2022, and no RAAC was found.