Asbestos discovery closes school classrooms
CLASSROOMS at a Gorseinon school may have to be closed for up to two weeks after workers found asbestos.
An annexe of Penyrheol Comprehensive School, which contains 16 classrooms, has been shut after asbestos was found.
The asbestos was discovered over the Easter break when new windows were being installed.
The classrooms look set to be shut for the first two weeks of the new term, which begins on Tuesday.
Head teacher Alan Toothill said: "This is an unfortunate situation, but expert works are now ongoing to deal with the issue."
Swansea Council has said the building does not pose a health risk, nor did it before the asbestos was discovered, as it had not be disturbed.
But the council has decided pupils and staff will not return to the annexe until they are fully satisfied about its safety.
GCSE pupils in years 10 and 11 are to be given priority over the remaining 35 classrooms.
They will be taught every weekday as normal from Tuesday, with other year groups coming in on a rotational basis on different weekdays.
A new school building is currently being built on the Penyrheol site after an arson attack gutted the teaching block in 2006.
A council spokesman said: "The school will only be open to staff on Monday to enable teachers to re-organise teaching schedules for the coming fortnight.
"The other 35 classrooms on the site will be unaffected by the works and will reopen on Tuesday, but the annexe closure means only three year groups can use the school each day at a time.
"GCSE pupils in years 10 and 11 are being given priority and will be taught every weekday as normal from Tuesday, but the other year groups will be taught on a rotational basis on different weekdays.
Parents of pupils in years seven, eight and nine should contact the school on 01792 533066 or log onto www.penyrheol-comp.net from Monday to find out what days their children need to attend school.
2 Comments
by Richard, NR35 2EW
Wednesday, April 22 2009, 8:33AM
“The Council say that asbestos had not been disturbed and so is "not a health risk", but windows vibrating, slamming and opening are known to disturb hidden asbestos as does water damage. It is also odd that the presence of asbestos around the windows came as a surprise. It suggests that the management of hidden asbestos might be less thorough than required to prevent fibre release.
It is surprising that Swansea Council say this does not pose a health risk when HSE make it clear that asbestos is a health risk that is being managed - and the management of potentially deteriorating hidden asbestos seems to have failed on this occassion - possibly over a long period of time.”
by Councillor Christine Richards, Loughor
Sunday, April 19 2009, 9:06PM
“Sixteen classrooms have been shut and once again the school will have to seek the goodwill of parents, staff, governors and pupils. Just weeks before this year¿s GCSEs, the school finds itself disrupted with staff being asked to find ways to squeeze the whole school, by instalments, into the temporary accommodation in the car-park.
Your article suggests that finding the asbestos was a surprise. Wrong! City and County of Swansea was well aware of the asbestos in that building. Everybody involved with the school knows that the annexe is a blot on the landscape and it now looks even worse in contrast to the new school building.
Since 2006 governors at the school have being trying to persuade the administration to increase the size of the re-build to accommodate those staff & pupils now left in the annexe. I believe at the time the additional work would have cost around £1 million, spread over 2 years. We were told that there was no money available. City & County of Swansea has received around £8.5 million in insurance to re-build the main school building. The recent Council budget shows the planned expenditure for re-build is just over £9 million.
¿The accommodation in the annexe does not provide a suitable environment for learning and teaching. It houses several classrooms and offices which are generally small in size and, sometimes, difficult to use. The building is subject to leaks in bad weather wet weather and is frequently in need of repair and refurbishment¿. Not my words, but an extract from the last school inspection.
I sat in a recent governors¿ meeting where we discussed whether we would spend money on the annexe. Although we knew we were probably emptying cash into a bottomless money pit we felt we had to try our best to make the building a suitable environment for learning and teaching. We know the building is in a rotten state. We also know that we are stuck with it for the foreseeable future.
When we add up all the bits and pieces that will no doubt be spent on this money pit, that £1 million extra that needed to be spent to house all of the school in the new building seems more and more of a bargain.”