In light of the recent Grenfell Tower incident the Learning Trust has carried out a review of both fire safety in its broadest terms as well as narrower concerns on cladding and tower block evacuations.

All of the Learning Trust school buildings have a fire risk assessment in place and all have been reviewed within the last six months, including a discussion with a fire officer. Regular checks of fire safety equipment are undertaken and fire evacuation procedures are practiced termly. Any recommended actions from these systems have been minor improvements and have been implemented quickly.

 

In April 2017 the Education funding Agency approved an application for capital funding for Newminster Middle School and Chantry Middle School to update elements of fire safety equipment; upgrading alarms, detection and fire doors to the latest building standards. This work will be completed by 31/08/17. The fire risk assessments carried out for this purpose indicated a good level of fire safety existed and that a timely upgrade of equipment would continue to ensure these standards were maintained.

The fire escape procedures for our tower blocks are approved by the fire officer and regularly tested. The blocks are all evacuated in a few minutes.

The cladding on each building has been reviewed and it meets the highest class of fire safety rating. In addition no tower block is higher than four storeys or 18 metres and they are not residential which fire regulations class as a much lower risk situation than Grenfell Tower.

This review has been supported by fire safety professionals, building specialists and the Local Authority Health and Safety Team. The results have been provided to the Department for Education who are satisfied that each school has a low fire risk.