Unsafe concrete: Sudden evacuation at Essex school raises concerns from parents and staff
James Saunders is wandering through the corridors of Honywood School looking into the condemned classrooms in frustration.
It was in July when the headteacher received the results of a building inspection flagging some issues with the crumbling concrete used to build large parts of this Essex school.
But there was no immediate danger. Issues only needed addressing with a longer-term mitigation plan, they were told by Department for Education officials in August.
The updated risk assessment came on Thursday without warning – ordering the evacuation of any area with the presence of RAAC.
The reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete deteriorates and leaves buildings prone to collapsing. But Mr Saunders is left wondering why, only now, the material is seen as such an immediate danger to safety.
Headteacher James Saunders
The classrooms we are being shown around on a Saturday afternoon – discussing the hidden danger – will be just as empty next week when the new school year should be starting here.
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Instead, 340 of the 800 pupils will have to stay home with 22 classrooms here – half the school – and as many more additional rooms closed off.
“It’s only been on my radar really for the last six months,” Mr Saunders told Sky News. “I’d never heard of RAAC before, until I’d received a document that said we’re doing a survey.”
Even then, the warning signs weren’t there until receiving a phone call on Thursday.
“The risk approach from the DfE had changed,” he said. “And that any room that we had RAAC had to be closed with immediate effect, and we weren’t able to use it for the start of term.”
So virtual lessons will return two years after the COVID disruption ended – creating an even bigger crisis for this school near Colchester.
“I think the difference between this and COVID is that every single school was in the same position,” Mr Saunders said. “But now you’ve got some schools that are fine, some schools that aren’t.
“But it is maybe more serious, because there’s a more immediate risk to children that maybe wasn’t there during COVID. And you’ve got an unevenness across the country with schools affected.”
Temporary facilities are being sought and funded to rebuild.
“Who knows what the extent of the problem is and how long it’s going to take to rectify,” Mr Saunders said.
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What is the concrete crisis?
“In a way, the easiest solution will be to put a plaster on it for the next few years. So ultimately, it would be lovely if we could get a new school.”
Parents of pupils at Honywood School are frustrated with the government
Jo Jullien said: “My biggest shock is actually the frustration at how it’s been known prior to the summer holidays – even before that – that there was a problem.
“But my understanding from the email that’s come from the school is actually Honywood was low risk and then suddenly, two days ago, it’s been moved from low risk to actually closing at least half of their classrooms, which is just unbelievable. I can’t imagine how that decision has been made.”
Another parent of a GCSE year pupil – Sarah Cooper – also has questions for authorities.
“This is something that they’ve had knowledge of for the entire duration of my first child’s time at the school,” she said.
“So while I have no worries that she was in any kind of danger, or anything like that, it’s frustrating to have this just come out now, the day before, the first of September, essentially, when school kids are just getting ready to go back to school.”
A professional footballer has been jailed for causing the death of a cyclist in a car crash.
Mansfield Town forward Lucas Akins crashed into Adrian Daniel in his Mercedes G350 in Huddersfield on 17 March 2022, while taking his daughter to a piano lesson.
Leeds Crown Court heard that Mr Daniel, 33, suffered catastrophic head injuries and died 10 days later.
Akins, 36, played in Mansfield’s 0-0 draw with Wigan on 4 March, hours after pleading guilty at Leeds Crown Court to death by careless or inconsiderate driving.
The footballer has continued to play for Mansfield since the incident.
Judge Alex Menary said on Thursday that he had considered imposing a suspended sentence, but had concluded that only an immediate sentence of 14 months’ imprisonment was appropriate.
Mansfield Town’s Akins. Pic: George Wass/PPAUK/Shutterstock
A spokesperson for Mansfield Town FC said it “acknowledges” the court’s decision and offered the club’s “sincere and deepest condolences to the family of Adrian Daniel at this difficult time”.
“The club is considering its position with regards to Lucas and will be making no further comment at this stage,” the spokesperson added.
‘Like hell’
Prosecuting, Carmel Pearson said it was a “difficult junction to emerge from” but that the defendant “did not stop at the give-way sign”.
Savanna Daniel, Mr Daniel’s wife, told the court it had been “like hell and a nightmare [she is] not waking up from”.
“There was no reason for Adrian to be killed that way,” she said, adding it was “too simple a collision to have taken a life”.
Adrian Daniel. Pic: West Yorkshire Police/PA
Mrs Daniel said she did not want Akins’s children growing up without their father as she did not want “any more lives to be destroyed from this”, but she criticised the defendant for failing to plead guilty at an earlier stage.
Tim Pole, representing Akins, said he was “fundamentally a decent, honest and hard-working individual”.
“I want to publicly apologise on his behalf,” he said.
Mr Pole added that Akins understood Mrs Daniel’s “frustration and anger” over the time it took him to plead guilty.
Handing down his sentence, the judge accepted that Akins’s remorse was genuine but by not admitting to the offence at an earlier stage, he had prolonged Mrs Daniel’s “heartache and grief”.
After the sentencing, Mrs Daniel said “three years of hell” had come to a close, in a statement via West Yorkshire Police.
She said Akins had made a “farce” of the justice system and that his failure to plead guilty sooner “makes a mockery of any remorse that Akins offers for his actions”.
Akins, who has played for Mansfield Town since 2022 and was previously with clubs including Huddersfield Town, Tranmere Rovers and Burton Albion, was also suspended from driving for 12 months.
Much of the UK will bask in warm, sunny conditions at the start of next week, with inland temperatures up to 10C higher than average, but it’s a mixed picture before then.
The first half of spring brought warmth and sunshine for many, but the last 10 days have been more changeable.
Some areas of Ireland, Northern Ireland, southwest Wales, and southwest England have seen much-needed rainfall, whereas parts of northern Britain have observed very little.
See the latest weather forecast where you are
Warm, sunny conditions, such as those in Harrogate on Thursday, are expected at the start of next week. Pic: PA
Tyne and Wear in northeast England has recorded just 7% of its average April rainfall, whereas Cornwall in the southwest of the country has already seen 156%.
And the Milford Haven rain gauge in Wales has seen over twice its average April rainfall.
There’ll be more rain over the next few days, mainly in the West, but it looks like high pressure will settle things down from Sunday.
Temperatures will rise too, becoming widely above average on Monday and Tuesday.
Highs of 22C (72F) to 24C (75F) can be expected.
The highest temperature of the year so far is 24C (75F), seen at Northolt in northwest London on Saturday 12 April.
The settled conditions will bring plenty of sunshine, with UV levels expected to be around moderate.
Tree pollen levels will be high in the South, low to moderate in the North.
What happens from next Wednesday onwards is unclear.
A thundery breakdown is possible from the South, or wet and windy conditions may move in from the North West.
Other computer models suggest high pressure will hold on, with the fine weather continuing and potentially higher temperatures.
The last time that 25C (77C) was reached in April was during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
The highest temperature ever recorded in April was 29.4C (85F), seen at Camden Square in London on 16 April 1949.
All this means that it will be quite warm for the London Marathon, which will take place this Sunday.
Temperatures will be around 11-12C (52-54F) at the start, potentially peaking at a warm 22C (70F).
That’s a little off the highest temperature ever recorded for the race, which stands at 24.2C (76F) seen at St James’s Park in 2018.
But it will be a lot higher than the 12.6C (55F) seen last year.
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It’ll be dry for runners and spectators, with sunny spells and light winds.
Competitors in the Manchester Marathon on Sunday will face similar conditions to London’s runners; it should be dry with sunny spells. The temperature first thing will be around 9C (48F), but it’ll warm up with a high of about 19C (66F).
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