A West Cumbria special school will remain closed for an extra week after it was shut down immediately due to health and safety concerns.
Cumbria Academy for Autism in Workington shut for pupils on October 19 for three days following an external review of safeguarding and health and safety.
While the exact reason for the closure has not been disclosed, an academy spokesman said staff would use the half-term break to review its progress ‘towards fully updating staff training and policies’.
A statement on the academy’s website said: “Thanks to the commitment, hard work and dedication of staff and leaders, rapid progress has been made on updating health and safety policies and procedures and we expect these to be ready for approval by the board very soon.
“Once agreed, the remaining action will be for all staff to have training in these policies and procedures.
“Due to the half term, there is a need for some of this training to take place the following week of October 31. Because of this we can confirm that we will not reopen on October 31, but are currently planning to reopen on Monday, November 7 to enable enough time for all training to have taken place and external assurance.”
It said parents and carers would be updated next week.
It is understood the initial decision to close the Branthwaite Road school was taken in consultation with Cumbria County Council as the local education authority and the Department for Education.
A spokesman for Cumbria County Council said: “As soon as we were made aware of the issues at the school we stepped in to offer support. Our officers are now working closely with the school. Irrespective of a school’s status, the county council will provide support to ensure that all Cumbrian children and young people are safe and able to access appropriate education.”
The academy opened in September 2019 for youngsters in Allerdale and Copeland aged four to 19 years old. Its most up-to-date financial statement, for 2021, said the academy reached its year two forecast of 40 students and anticipated a greater than predicted intake for its third year – with 48 planned places already commissioned and another seven being considered.
The academy is a free school – funded by the Government and not run by a local authority.
Free schools can be established by a charity, a community group, an academy sponsor, parents or a business and have more control over how they do things, like whether to follow the National Curriculum, setting staff pay and conditions and the length of school terms and the school day. They have to follow the same rules on Ofsted inspections, special educational needs and exclusions as other state schools.
