Scalby school pupils' exam fears over faulty Raac concrete

Pupils at a school which has lost two thirds of its space due to crumbling concrete have said they are worried about the impact on their exams.

Scalby School, in Scarborough, had to close parts of its site because of the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) in September.

One pupil said it was hard to compete against "everyone else in the country" without the "same facilities".

The government said it was not possible to change exams for only some students.

However, a spokesperson said it was asking exam boards to offer extensions on coursework deadlines "where possible".

Jordan Philliskirk, assistant headteacher at Scalby School, told the BBC's Panorama: "We've lost enormous amounts of specialist space, we have got no music rooms, we've not got food tech rooms.

"We've lost the majority of our science labs. We lost our drama studio for a considerable amount of time. Our kitchen and dining facilities have gone."

Students face their GCSEs later this year despite their education being disrupted by Covid and lately the discovery of Raac in their school building.

Some have said the impact on their learning has put them at a significant disadvantage.

"We're all a bit in the dark of what's going to happen and how it could affect us," one pupil told Panorama.

"It's not fair at all, to be honest. But there's not a lot that us as students and other staff can do."

Meanwhile, Mr Philliskirk said: "This is meant to be 21st Century Britain. We're trying to prepare them for the most important examinations of their life.

"They've got to go and compete in an arena that is completely and utterly unfair

"This is the future for our students, these are life chances that we're talking about."

The government has published an updated list of 231 schools and colleges in England it says have crumbling concrete.

It has given Scalby School an extra £37,000 to provide lessons after school.

A spokesperson said the government was doing "whatever it takes" on Raac and said it had found temporary teaching spaces for Scalby which would be installed "in due course."

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