A SCHOOL on Canvey has been forced to assign children to different classrooms and schools after being made to close following the discovery of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.

Winter Gardens Academy, in Hilton Road, on Canvey, has been told the infant side will close immediately because of the presence of a lightweight, weak concrete – RAAC.

RAAC is a lightweight concrete, but is unlike traditional concrete, as the way it is made, means it is much weaker. It is widely used as a building material from the 1950s to the mid-1990s.

Before the summer, advice given to schools was to monitor the situation and act on the surveys the schools had completed.

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However, government policy has since changed and all schools with confirmed RAAC are to vacate these spaces with immediate effect.

As a result, a number of areas of Winter Gardens Academy has been affected and children have been moved.

All reception children will be based in Lake View Hall – starting on Monday, September 11.

Year 1 children will all be based in the dinner hall – from Tuesday, September 5.

Class Italy – a class in year 2 – will be rehoused at Cornelis Vermuyden school – from Tuesday, September 5.

Mixed Year 3 / 2 classes and Year 4 / 5/ 6 will remain in current classrooms. But lunches will be eaten in classrooms.

According to the letter, it is "likely to take six to seven weeks to complete" once building work actually begins. 

The letter in full sent to parents by the CEO of the South Essex Academy Trust is as below:

Echo: Page 1 - Winter Gardens AcademyPage 1 - Winter Gardens Academy (Image: Newsquest)

Echo: Page 2 - Winter Gardens AcademyPage 2 - Winter Gardens Academy (Image: Newsquest)