 must be vacated immediately until 'appropriate mitigations' were put in place. The council said it was confident the buildings were safe. However, it said the nature of 'appropriate mitigations' was not specified by the DfE so it advised the schools to close until officials responded with further explanation. Palmarsh Primary in Hythe was shut on Tuesday and St James' Church of England Primary in Tunbridge Wells was closed to eight classes. On Wednesday, school leaders called on Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, to apologise for demanding that some schools 'get off their backsides' because they hadn't responded to a questionnaire about the concrete . In a joint statement, school leaders' unions NAHT and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said her statement 'lacks precision and professionalism' and 'paints a false picture whilst hiding the continuing failings of your department'. They said: 'School leaders have once again been thrown into unnecessary crisis management by the failures of government. To now be insulted by the Secretary of State with an insinuation that they are lazy and need to get off their backsides is unacceptable.' 'Ambiguous and message unclear' ASCL said it had been contacted by six schools accused of not completing the questionnaire when they had done so, suggesting a technical error at the DfE. John Tutt, head teacher at St James' Church of England School, told The Telegraph that he received a letter from the DfE on Monday morning, a day before the s){kind=link}
Council says it does not believe there is any danger but acted cautiously because government guidance was not clear
Schools were told to close by the Department for Education even though they had been made safe during the summer holidays, it has emerged.
Two primary schools in Kent were fully or partially closed for the start of term this week, despite works already having been completed during the summer to ensure that buildings with crumbly concrete were safe.
Kent County Council said it was told by the DfE on Monday that its buildings with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) must be vacated immediately until “appropriate mitigations” were put in place.
The council said it was confident the buildings were safe. However, it said the nature of “appropriate mitigations” was not specified by the DfE so it advised the schools to close until officials responded with further explanation.