Since writing for the Brentwood Gazette last week about the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in three of our local schools, I have had meetings with the Prime Minister, the Education Secretary, Department for Education officials and local headteachers about how we can best manage the situation.
Here in my Brentwood and Ongar constituency, we are fortunate to be ahead of the game, with the Anglo European School in Ingatestone having been advised in February to close its sixth form centre to the to presence of RAAC in the roof.
The Secretary of State for Education, the Rt. Hon. Gillian Keegan MP, visited the Anglo European School last week to hear from headteacher, Jody Gee, about the actions which have been taken to ensure sixth form students have had face to face teaching for all but two weeks since the discovery.
Jody was able to explain where delays had occurred, and how they had been overcome. She was able to say she had felt “incredibly supported” by me and my office, the Department for Education and Essex County Council, and is very proud that the immense work by her and her staff has put the Anglo European School in the position of being the pioneer for developing successful solutions to address this critical challenge.
The Education Secretary has told me how impressed she was by the mitigations taken to allow classrooms to re-open safely and the speed with which two temporary classroom blocks have been sourced and installed on the school site. Gillian also praised Essex County Council for being on top of the surveys of schools across the county, and being a model of good collaborative working.
To mark the start of the new school year, last week I met the heads of all our Brentwood secondary schools to discuss other issues affecting them at the moment, including the provision for children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities. The heads all seem in good spirits and I wish them and their pupils well as we begin another academic year.
