Each week, the routine remains the same for Amanda and her son Elliott; they sift meticulously through his organizer to determine when he will be attending in-person classes and when he will need to transition to remote learning.
At eleven years old, Elliott had anticipated his transition to secondary school with a contagious eagerness. His anticipation was shared by another new enrollee at the same school in Durham, and they spent a lot of time together, getting ready for their shared experience. However, their dreams were suddenly shattered when the government revealed that schools constructed with a specific type of concrete, Raac, would need to close immediately for safety reasons.
Consequently, St Leonard’s Catholic School, where Elliott was enrolled, was significantly affected. It was unable to fully commence the school term due to the presence of the now-condemned Raac concrete on its premises. Since then, young Elliott has had to swap physical classes for virtual ones, stealing time on his mother’s laptop for the six-hour-long daily lessons. Despite over 150 of his peers attending online, everyone keeps their camera off and remains mute with the teacher doing all the talking.
“It’s isolating,” confesses Elliott. “My free time usually finds me lying in bed, lost in YouTube videos.”
Amanda, Elliott’s mother, expresses her heartbreak over her son’s inability to make new friends in his new school. “The absence of regular human interaction has significantly affected him.”
Plans are, however, underway to resume in-person learning full-time in an alternate location from the following week. Some students have already been able to partially integrate into the new system, but the novelty of the learning environment is still a shock to most. Lessons held in gymnasiums instead of classrooms and clipboards serving as desks are only a few of the changes confronting them.
Nick Hurn, the Executive Chief of the school’s trust, is hopeful that all students can return to some form of face-to-face learning by the next half-term break. The government has also promised the commencement of reconstruction activities at St Leonard’s before the end of the year.
However, despite the government’s pledge to provide fortnightly updates on the status of affected schools, no new information has been released since the last update over a month ago, which reported that 174 schools in England were facing similar dilemmas due to the risky Raac material. Consequently, one school was completely shut down, with all 1,400 students transitioning to remote learning. Other schools needed temporary classrooms; some already had them while others awaited them.
With safety concerns mounting regarding Raac and other issues such as asbestos and fire hazards, it’s evident that the school infrastructure in England is under duress. An estimated 700,000 children are being educated in potentially unsafe or deteriorating school buildings that require major renovations, according to a report by the National Audit Office. As efforts continue to support these struggling infrastructures and provide a safe learning environment, the trials of students, parents, and educators amidst this confluence of crises are stories that need telling.
