Keeping Fakenham Junior School pupils safe is ‘first priority’, trust says amid delayed returns

Parents have been issued with an apology after a “difficult decision” to delay the restart of their children’s school year.

Many were left scrambling for extra childcare after being told yesterday that due to remedial work at Fakenham Junior School, some classrooms have been temporarily closed.

This follows a building condition survey carried out by the Synergy Multi-Academy Trust over the summer which led to concerns about ceilings in some of its rooms.

Seven classrooms will be closed for between eight and ten weeks - and youngsters who form the Year 3 Tawny Owls and Little Owls classrooms will not be able to return to class until next Monday.

This is in order for staff to move and set up classroom equipment. Pupils had been due to return today, giving parents just one days’ notice to prepare.

Executive head teacher Adam Mason sent a letter of apology to parents yesterday.

Now, Louise Lee, CEO and accounting officer of the Synergy Multi-Academy Trust, has said: “We have had to make the difficult decision to delay the start of the school year for some of our pupils at Reepham Primary and Fakenham Junior Schools.

“This is a precautionary measure, after a building inspection discovered some concerns about the ceilings in two classrooms in each school.

“We are sorry to both parents and carers and children for the delay and inconvenience. However, keeping our children safe is our first priority and we need to carry out urgent work in these classrooms.

“We are adapting our other classrooms and using the Fakenham Infant School site to get children back to school as quickly as possible and are hopeful that all children can return on Monday, with some of our Fakenham pupils returning tomorrow.

“I would like to thank our parents and carers for their understanding and support and our staff for acting so swiftly to adapt their classrooms so that we minimise the delay to the start of the term as much as possible.

“I want to reassure parents and carers of children at our other schools that we have checked our whole estate and are confident that all of our other classrooms are safe.”

The after-school club at Fakenham Junior will also remain closed for the remainder of this week, not recommencing until next Monday. It will be housed in a classroom.

The before-school club’s start-up has been pushed back to tomorrow.