A school in Durham, deemed to be the "most affected" by RAAC, is still seeing "extreme disruption" 17 weeks after the scandal broke. 

St Leonard's Catholic School in Durham city was one of only two secondary schools in England that were required to close completely this September, following the crumbling concrete scandal. 

Now, disruption persists, with students being taught in temporary classrooms and at different sites across the city, a new report from Durham University has revealed. 

The report, by Professors Stephen Gorard and Nadia Siddiqui from Durham University's Department of Education, was commissioned by the school to support their case for special consideration for their students. 

The Northern Echo:

It found that "despite teachers’ best efforts, adjustments made because of RAAC are not suitable."

Read more about the situation at St Leonard's here: 

In detail, the findings are: 

  • There was a massive impact in the first term, with all lessons cancelled for the first week due to the short notice order to close from the Department of Education. 
  • Slowly, online and onsite teaching both resumed, continuing reduced and disrupted service for all. The school hired teaching spaces in the Radisson Hotel, St Bede’s School, and Ushaw College of Durham University, four or more miles away. Pupils were transported to and from the school, using busses and coaches, to outside venues. This travel and the need to settle into a new routine decreased some of the learning time.
  • Once onsite, the school dissolved all classes into single-year groups, and most lessons were delivered as lectures to large groups of up to 240 pupils.
  • The new locations were a particular problem for students and teachers in vocational, technical, practical and science subjects. Practical lessons, including coursework and other projects, had to be suspended for most year groups.
  • Practical lessons for GCSE and A-level students were delayed, and some science practical sessions subsequently took place using laboratory space at Durham University, available only in late afternoons (and not set up for school experiments or similar). 
  • Later, areas of St Leonard's were approved for safe use, the staffroom, chapel, hall, sports hall, sixth form common room, sixth form library, the headteacher’s office and other office spaces converted into use as classrooms. Still, none of these rooms was designed as a teaching space, and they restrict the kinds of activities than took place. None permit practical sessions.
  • The previous now closed classrooms are used as storage spaces to keep a large quantity of equipment and books, which are now inaccessible and unavailable as lesson resources.
  • The converted classrooms were clearly not as fit for academic learning activities as the usual ones, because they were not soundproofed and lessons were frequently disrupted due to sounds and movements nearby, the voices of other teachers and pupils, and use of any learning tools and technology.
  • Changes in timetable and adjustment in room allocations are frequent occurrences. Travel and adjusting to external sites added further issues.
  • Pupils were merged into large groups so that the maximum number can make use of any space. This resulted in less space for teachers to move around classrooms and reach out to everyone while they are working on their own.
  • Building new infrastructure will take time, especially now that asbestos has also been found in unsafe buildings. It is estimated that the rebuilt school will not reopen until 2026. The school is placing pre-fabricated teaching spaces on their sports fields, and these will be used for much of the teaching in 2024. This helps but is not ideal and only for two of the year groups. The site is also a 10-minute walk away across a dual carriageway requiring staff supervision, and will have no specialist facilities.
  • Lessons in practical subjects (including Design and Technology, Food Technology, Engineering, Physical Education or Music) are not able to have many lessons listed in the curriculum due to the inaccessibility of specialist teaching rooms. 
  • Currently, the school reported that only one of the normal 11 Science labs is accessible.
  • Throughout the first term of over 11 weeks, the school had no access to the dining room, internal social spaces, lockers, and the chapel. There was no access to toilets. For half of the term there was no hot food.

The Northern Echo: Parents staged at demonstration of support at the school on Wednesday morning

Nick Hurn OBE, the CEO of Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust, has said that the Department for Education's position that students will not receive additional consideration outside of the framework is "not credible, reasonable, or just."

MP Mary Kelly Foy has echoed this, saying it is "incomprehensible" that special considerations have not been made 17 weeks on from the school's initial shutdown.