‘We don’t know how long this will last’ – says trust as pupils from Derbyshire school affected by RAAC set to travel outside county to new building

By Wiktoria Wrzyszcz
Published 13th Sep 2023, 11:24 BST
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Pupils at a Derbyshire school have now resumed face-to-face learning following week-long delays – but some pupils will now have to temporarily travel outside the county’s border to a new school.

St Edward's Catholic Voluntary Academy, in Swadlincote, had to delay its term start by a week due to potential issues with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

Pupils were set to start the new school year on Monday, September 4, but had to wait until Monday, September 11 to resume learning after the summer holidays.

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Now pupils from nursery to year two have been able to return safely but years three to six have moved temporarily to Blessed Robert Sutton Catholic Voluntary Academy, in Burton, which transformed empty classrooms to accommodate the new students in just four days.

Now pupils from nursery to year two have been able to return safely to St Edward’s, but years three to six have moved temporarily to Blessed Robert Sutton Catholic Voluntary Academy, in Burton, which transformed empty classrooms to accommodate the new students in just four days.Now pupils from nursery to year two have been able to return safely to St Edward’s, but years three to six have moved temporarily to Blessed Robert Sutton Catholic Voluntary Academy, in Burton, which transformed empty classrooms to accommodate the new students in just four days.
Now pupils from nursery to year two have been able to return safely to St Edward’s, but years three to six have moved temporarily to Blessed Robert Sutton Catholic Voluntary Academy, in Burton, which transformed empty classrooms to accommodate the new students in just four days.

Kevin Gritton, Chief Executive of the St. Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust, said: “All of the necessary arrangements around safeguarding, travel, toilets, break and lunch times, are in place.

“There are a small number of areas that we are able to use safely at St Edward’s which means that Nursery, Reception, Year One and Year Two were able to return to classrooms at the school that are not affected.

“We do not know how long this arrangement will need to last as we will be carrying out investigations at St Edward’s over the coming weeks to determine what remedial works can take place in areas where RAAC is present.

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“This has been an incredibly challenging time for everyone involved but it has demonstrated the strength of the relationships that we have across our Trust. We would like to thank Miss O’Leary, Headteacher at Blessed Robert Sutton, and her staff for all of their hard work and support. We would also like to thank staff at St Edward’s and the Trust for the work they have done to make sure that children at both locations had everything they needed when they returned on Monday.

Laura O’Leary, Headteacher at Blessed Robert Sutton school, thanked the staff for the hard work that they have done to accommodate Swadlincote students at the site.Laura O’Leary, Headteacher at Blessed Robert Sutton school, thanked the staff for the hard work that they have done to accommodate Swadlincote students at the site.
Laura O’Leary, Headteacher at Blessed Robert Sutton school, thanked the staff for the hard work that they have done to accommodate Swadlincote students at the site.

“We would like to thank parents and carers for their support and understanding. We do appreciate that this will be an unsettling time for them and for our pupils, but we would like to reassure them that the safety of our pupils and staff is our top priority.

“We will keep in regular contact with parents and carers and share any updates with them as soon as we are able to.”

Kay Methven, Headteacher at St Edward’s, said: “We would like to thank our parents and carers, they have been so understanding and patient. I want to say a huge thank you to our staff, to Miss O’Leary and her staff at Blessed Robert Sutton and to the Trust. Everyone has been amazing and we have all worked together to ensure that our pupils could return to face to face learning from Monday and all of this has been put in place in four days, which is an amazing achievement.”

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Laura O’Leary, Headteacher at Blessed Robert Sutton, said: “We are pleased to be able to support one of our partner primary schools and would like to thank all of our staff, particularly our site team, for all of the hard work that they have done to make this possible. We are excited to have the younger pupils on site with us.”