New Portakabin Village for Scalby School

Friday, 15 December 2023 15:03

By Matthew Pells

Scalby School will have a new "village" delivered in January to replace out of action classrooms.

Beginning in January, Scalby School will have a series of Portakabin buildings delivered and installed to replace classrooms that are unusable due to the presence of RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete). The buildings are referred to as the "Village" and will feature modern facilities for subjects such as science, music and food technology.

The preparations for the buildings will begin before Christmas as the plans have been now approved by the Department of Education and the construction can begin on the school's tennis courts.

Headteacher, Chris Robertson, has welcomed the confirmation of the "Village" and is looking forward to being able to welcome students into these new facilities saying:

"The Village will provide us with the opportunity to deliver subjects that we could not do effectively in the current state of the original school building. These facilities will allow our outstanding teachers to continue to deliver the high-quality curriculum our students deserve."

Scalby School, part of Coast and Vale Learning Trust, was identified as having RAAC via a Trust commissioned survey in March. Mitigations were put in place via guidance from the Department for Education. On 31st August, this guidance was changed which meant that 17 classrooms were unable to be used just before the beginning of term with most of these being for practical subjects such as science and food technology.

While areas of the building have been able to open once additional scaffolding was put in place, the Year 7 pupils have been relocated to Scarborough UTC and with the arrival of the Village the entire school will be back at the Scalby School site.

CEO of Coast and Vale Learning Trust, Brian Crosby, has been deeply impressed by the resilience of students and staff during what has been a challenging term.

“I would like to thank the Trust Central team, together with Chris Robertson and his staff who have been involved in this piece of work with Portakabin and the Department for Education which will allow the Scalby School students to thrive in their new environment."

During the delivery of the Portakabin buildings, there will be some local parking restrictions to facilitate the arrival of the modular building.

Peter Noble, Chair of Governors, thanked the local residents and school community for their patience and support during this challenging period for the school.

"We would like to thank the community for their continued support as the school responds to the RAAC issue at Scalby. In the coming weeks, there will be disruption to local residents as we prepare for the delivery of the Portakabin buildings and their installation.

Working alongside Portakabin, the school will ensure that this disruption is as minimal as possible and we will update local residents and the school community as this vital work is undertaken for our pupils."

The first pieces of work will include groundworks prior to the delivery of the buildings in the new year. The school will ensure that parents, students, staff and the local community are updated with the progress of the works.

Scalby School is part of Coast and Vale Learning Trust, a family of six schools based on the Yorkshire Coast and Vale of Pickering.