Shropshire secondary school welcomes back students after closure due to safety concerns

William Brookes School Very Wenlock it was had to partially close last month After an engineer raised concerns about the safety of the school’s balconies.

The 3-18 Education Foundation said last year that “significant efforts” had previously been made to improve the safety of balconies at the school, but a recent inspection found further strengthening was required for “full compliance with public and commercial building regulations”.

Today (November 5), the school returned to being a “hive of activity”, welcoming back its first pupils following partial closure.

A phased reopening will take place this week, with pupils across all year groups expected to return to school by Friday 8 November.

Temporary scaffolding was installed school to ensure the safe use of relevant areas and to enable the reopening of the building.

Students in three-year groups continued to attend William Brookes School in person, despite it being closed for safety precautions.

The school’s trust said “extensive high-quality” live online learning was available for other students.

Deputy Head Teacher at William Brookes SchoolRuth Shaw said: “We are delighted to welcome the whole school community back this week.

“We would like to reiterate our thanks to parents and families for their understanding and support during this time. “An exciting period awaits us.”