School ceiling faults 'missed' during inspections

Warnings about school ceilings in urgent need of repair were missed during maintenance inspections, the councillor in charge of children's services has admitted.

Fifteen schools with lath and plaster ceilings across Norfolk have been highlighted by the county council as in need of immediate work

Pupils at a school in Norwich were disrupted for three days when the issue was discovered.

Penny Carpenter said historically, council-commissioned surveyors visited schools on a rolling programme - but she said these were visual checks only, with inspectors "apparently not" removing suspended ceiling tiles to check the older structures beneath.

Asked if this was a big oversight, Ms Carpenter said: "Hindsight is always a wonderful thing; I don't know what the checklist is on the visits," adding that the system would be reviewed and she believed it was a "certainty" that inspectors would be asked to remove tiles.

The Conservative councillor said it had sent out inspectors to dozens of local authority-maintained schools as soon as it was told about a partial ceiling collapse at Fakenham Primary, run by an academy trust.

It has now completed inspections at 60 schools, with 15 schools identified as in need of work.

Asked if the ceilings were dangerous, Ms Carpenter said the lath and plaster was common in buildings from the 1800 and early 1900s and was usually covered with modern suspended ceilings.

"I suspect [the lath and plaster] would fall on the suspended ceiling; but if you are doing an eyesight check you wouldn't see that unless you go on ladders and towers and that is what we have done ourselves," she said.

"We have a four-year rolling programme but that's normally a visual programme but since this incident we have had to carry out our own checks to lift up ceilings to check that the plaster is still sound."

When it was put to her that the issues were missed because of the way the ceilings had been inspected, she said: "If you put it like that, then yes it has been missed, but I'm not a surveyor so I don't know the requirement for schools to be checked.

"I've asked for complete review of all school checks in our county and to see exactly what is the legal requirement for these checks."

She would not be drawn on who was to blame for the oversight, but said the council had contacted the Department for Education (DfE) about the issue and had flagged it with other local authorities.

Avenue Juniors in Norwich was forced to shut last month, while one class at The Parkside School, also in the city, was closed for a day.

Children from Woodton Primary, near Loddon, have also had their lessons switched to a parish hall for the foreseeable future after a potentially unsafe ceiling was identified.

When the hall was pre-booked, pupils were being taught in one room at the school.

The 15 schools, that would remain open, but needed urgent work were:

• Avenue Junior
• The Parkside School
• Freethorpe Community Primary and Nursery
• Bacton Primary
• Brooke VC CE Primary
• Hainford VC Primary
• Woodton Primary (one room available)
• Horning Community Primary
• Ludham Primary and Nursery
• Terrington St John Primary
• Tilney St Lawrence Community Primary
• Ellingham CE VC Primary
• Walpole Highway Primary
• St George’s Primary and Nursery
• Hevingham Primary

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