News

Crumbling and dangerous buildings forcing schools to close

At least 39 state schools in England have closed all or part of their school site in the last three years because of fears over dangerous buildings.

Responding to a Parliamentary question, the Department for Education (DfE) said it was aware of 39 schools that had either temporarily or permanently closed all or parts of their site “because one or more school buildings have been deemed unsafe”.

It added: “This is due to a range of reasons, including structural concerns and general condition issues, such as roofing and boiler failures.”

School authorities are not obliged to report “building-related school closures” to the DfE.

Of the 39, eight schools have permanently closed part of their school site. Three of those schools have closed their full site completely.

A further 31 schools have closed temporarily since December 2019. Of those, 23 closed their entire school site, while eight closed part of it.

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