Following the collapses in some schools, and the discovery of numerous schools impacted by the presence of RAAC, some in a dangerous condition, there have been changes. Areas of school life affected include school uniform and curriculum.
Many schools across the UK are starting the new teaching year fully or partially closed because they have had reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), used in their construction. It has been known that RAAC is prone to collapse with little warning since 2017. The government rapidly responded by reducing the rate of school replacement from the advised 200 per year to 50.
School uniform
School shoes now need to have steel toecaps. Hard hats and high-vis vests have been added to the uniform.
Curriculum
The RAAC issue has presented some learning opportunities. In mathematics children will now get to tackle problems such as; if the Department for Education strongly recommended replacing 200 schools a year back in 2021, but only got agreement for 100, then funded 50 a year how many a year will they be building next year.
There are also history related questions such as, at 50 schools a year when would they need to have started to have them all replaced by now? End of World War 2, the Battle of Waterloo or the time of the Spanish Armada?
Geoff Barton, head of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), calculated it would take 440 years to fix under Mr Sunak’s plan to rebuild 50 schools a year.