Bolton's Canon Slade School received recognition from the Education Secretary for its response to the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).

The secondary school on Bradshaw Brow remained open for face-to-face learning at the start of term but some areas of the site are no longer accessible for safety.

RAAC was used in a number of buildings in the second half of the 20th century and it came to the attention of the authorities after an incident at a primary school in Gravesend, Kent, in 2018. As of this week, after an update to the list of the schools affected by the material, it is confirmed at three schools in the borough.

Canon Slade is one of them, alongside St Andrew CE Primary School and St William of York RC Primary School, and it received recognition from the Education Secretary this week after a question by its MP Mark Logan.

He asked Gillian Keegan about asbestos, which is slowing the work on sites such as Canon Slade by stopping the surveyors of RAAC in their tracks.

The Bolton News:

Mr Logan said: "I put on record my admiration for [headteacher] Karen Sudworth, [CEO] Tania Lewyckyj and Canon Slade for their monumental effort to ensure the smooth running of the school since the announcement. 

"Will my honourable friend outline how the Department for Education can encourage surveyors who have concerns about a building containing asbestos to help to avoid delays in the installation of temporary classrooms?"

Ms Keegan said: "I join my honourable friend in praising the team at Canon Slade, who have all pupils in face-to-face education. The majority of schools identified as having RAAC have all pupils in face-to-face education and this is down to the dedication of our school leaders. 

"In terms of asbestos all schools have an asbestos plan but if there is asbestos which needs to be removed as part of the work it will be removed safely."

Ms Lewyckyj, CEO of The Bishop Fraser Trust, stressed the asbestos at Canon Slade is "maintained" and "managed".

She described the situation as a "perfect storm" but she thanked the Department for Education for its "strong support".

She said: "We know where our asbestos is but the surveyors cannot poke around above the ceilings if it is there.

"A lot of these buildings have asbestos even though it's well maintained and well managed. It's a perfect storm."

She added: "The team at Canon Slade have been really good, really good. 

"They have pulled it together to make sure educational activity and extracurricular activity is as normal as possible."

This article was written by Jack Tooth. To contact him, email jack.tooth@newsquest.co.uk or follow @JTRTooth on Twitter.