The headteacher of Honywood School in Coggeshall, Essex, where 830 pupils are compelled to engage in semi-remote learning due to a dire concrete crisis, has voiced concerns that this upheaval could reignite the negative mental health repercussions reminiscent of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
James Saunders, the school’s principal, apprehensively anticipates that year-seven students, embarking on their initial term of secondary school, may confront future struggles in light of the recent Department for Education directive to shut down 22 classrooms across the nation as part of a widespread safety alert.
This crisis stems from the 1960s construction of Honywood School, utilizing the now-infamous aerated concrete roof panels known as Raac. These panels have triggered the partial or complete closure of over 100 schools in England and Wales, raising concerns of potential sudden collapses.
In response, the school has devised a rotating schedule where pupils will attend school on select days and engage in remote learning on others.
Saunders remarked, “It’s the worst time to be moving to remote learning. Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of our year-sevens. That’s a crucial time. It’s a transition [from primary to secondary school] that can significantly impact their mental health going forward.”
He further noted that there had already been observable adverse effects on the mental health of some students who commenced their secondary school journey during the pandemic lockdown in 2020. “That could happen again,” he cautioned. “It’s going to be a lot tougher.”
UK government data from February and March 2021 indicated an increase in rates of probable mental disorders among children and young people, rising from 12% to 17% for six to 16-year-olds and from 10% to 17% for 17 to 19-year-olds between 2017 and 2021.
On Monday, Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, pledged to release a list of affected schools by week’s end.
Over the weekend, the number of affected schools continued to rise as engineers conducted inspections on the Raac panels, which the Health and Safety Executive deemed “life-expired” and susceptible to collapse with little notice. Some schools may be compelled to disturb asbestos to access the Raac, necessitating specialist contractors and causing additional delays in classroom reopenings.
At Honywood School, all year groups will rely on iPads for remote learning for at least a month. The installation of temporary supports in affected classrooms for English, mathematics, modern languages, and computing may take several months, allowing students to return temporarily. However, long-term solutions will require the evacuation of affected buildings, including toilets, staff rooms, and photocopier rooms, with the pursuit of temporary structures underway.
This crisis echoes across England and Wales, with estate managers grappling with potentially exorbitant costs to rectify individual blocks constructed with outdated lightweight panels, potentially reaching £1 million per block.
These challenges have prompted questions about the feasibility of extensive rebuilding, potentially escalating the financial burden into hundreds of millions of pounds. All this occurs at a time when capital spending on schools in England has been declining in real terms. In 2021-22, the Department for Education allocated approximately £4.9 billion to capital spending, the lowest figure since 2009-10, according to the House of Commons library.
Steve Chalke, of the Oasis foundation overseeing 52 academies in England, particularly in underserved communities, emphasized that children from disadvantaged backgrounds would bear the brunt of the impending disruptions. He noted, “It’s a re-run of Covid. It’s another reason why you can’t be at school. If you are a two-income family, with a good house and the capacity to work from home, and money is no issue to you, you can devote time to your child’s education. If you are not that family and the pursuit of cash consumes a whole lot more of your time and you have to be out to do your job, you are faced with a crisis.”
