Our Crumbling Schools, in more ways than one. The government announcement that schools built in part or full, with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) need to close those teaching areas affected. Of course, this was reported just before the beginning of the school term by the Independent Newspaper. Unfortunately, this could be indicative of the crumbling infrastructure of our schools in general. To understand the extent of this particular disruption to school communities, look at the statistics. By the 6^th of September, with the warning that there were more schools to come, 82 primary schools out of all the 147 schools had potentially dangerous RAAC according to the Independent Newspaper.

You might say that the crumbling infrastructure of schools is overstated. So let us look at another recent headline. ‘England’s special educational needs crisis ‘out of control amid record complaints’, states the Guardian Newspaper, just this month. We all know that there have been other significant issues impacting on schools this year, Ofsted and SATS being two examples.

If it was not the tenacity of our teachers, headteachers and governors, the whole education system of this country would have fallen apart or crumbled, a long time ago! So, let us cheer loudly for this group who have shown such courage and innovation in the face of adversity, dealt from ‘above’.