TYNEDALE SCHOOLS will be opening as normal; Northumberland County Council confirms after recent UK building concerns.

Hexham and District area parents will be glad to hear that there is 'no evidence, so far' ,according to Northumberland County Council, that local schools have buildings made with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Over the last few days, there has been panic across the UK after ministers ordered schools were built with the concrete,which was used in construction between the 1950s and mid-1990s and is prone to failure, to close down until it is safe. This comes after the tragic news in 2018 when the roof of a Kent primary school collapsed, and the concrete was later found to be to blame.

The material is a lightweight, bubbly form of concrete that is usually found in roofs and occasionally in walls and floors. It looks like standard but recent cases have now changed the government's assessment of the risk that RAAC poses to building safety. 

According to the Gov.uk website, they have told more than one hundred schools and colleges on Thursday (August 31) to close the buildings partially or fully before kids were set to return after the summer holidays.

In 2022, the Department for Education sent a questionnaire to all responsible bodies, asking them to provide information to help us understand the use of RAAC across the school estate and make sure the correct support is in place but only now telling schools to sort it.

Upon hearing the news, Northumberland County were quick to investigate and reassure parents that they have found 'no evidence' of any sites having RAAC around Northumberland and Tynedale.

At 2pm, there announced their findings on Facbook.

The post from Northumberland County Council said:

We would like to reassure families that our investigations have found no evidence of the presence of RAAC in our maintained schools in Northumberland.

Academies are liaising directly with the Department for Education, but we have not been made aware of any instances of RAAC being present in their buildings at this time.

All schools are therefore expected to be open as normal at the start of the autumn term. We would advise parents and carers to check their school websites for further details of arrangements for returning to school.

We will continue to update this statement if new information becomes available."