List of schools with RAAC: Batley school is on list of places hit by crumbling concrete crisis

Batley Girls High School, on Windmill Lane in Batley, is on the Government’s list of schools with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) concrete, published today (Wednesday) by the BBC.

A spokesperson for the school said “The Department for Education (DfE) very recently changed its guidance to education settings on the management of RAAC.

"As soon as this guidance was changed at the end of August, the school has taken very swift actions to put safety measures in place to ensure the school is fully safe for all our staff and young people and these actions have been approved by structural engineers.

"Young people have already faced such disruption to their education throughout the pandemic, it is essential that no further interruptions to young people’s learning.

"We are very fortunate at Batley Girls’ High School to have a large and spacious school site so we can continue to open and provide a high-quality education for all young people whilst the necessary works are undertaken.

"We have been in close communication with the Department for Education and they have approved the actions we have taken.

"At Batley Girls’ High School, the safety of all our young people and our staff is our number one priority, hence very swift actions were taken to keep our learning community safe, and to ensure no disruption to young people's education.”

In total, 104 schools across the country were told they would have to close or partially close due to concerns about the material just days before the start of term.

There have been concerns that this type of concrete that could be at risk of collapse.

It was fairly widely used over 40 years in buildings for roof, floor and wall construction due to its lighter weight.