In response to the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower and concerns raised by a number of educational institutions, officers in the Council have sought guidance from central government, including directly from the DfE.

As you may have heard reported in the media, the government is taking collective action to undertake precautionary assessments of public sector buildings.  The Education and Skills Funding Agency are directly collecting  intelligence on certain types of school building to which Enfield Council have already responded (Academies and Free Schools and Diocesan Education Trusts and Non-diocesan voluntary aided schools have been contacted directly) .

At the moment government guidance states that the major fire risk from cladding relates to high rise buildings. Most schools are low rise and have clear fire safety arrangements and not at the same level of risk.

With regard to schools that may have cladding there are a number of factors that would act as mitigation to the risks and these would include:

 

• Schools are low rise buildings, hence preventing a chimney effect,
• They actively managed buildings during occupation,
• They have fire detection and alarm systems
• They are not residential and would not have people sleeping in them,
• They have practiced evacuation procedures and do not follow a stay put policy,
• They have high standards of passive fire protection (fire doors, protected routes),
• They usually have multiple exits,
• Staff are practiced in fire evacuation,

 

Please note: Durants School is of a conventional construction and has NO cladding.

 

As the precise causes of the Grenfell Tower fire have not yet been determined all parties need to take all reasonable precautionary measures. Whilst we are waiting for further guidance from central government, we would advise schools to make your Fire Risk Assessments available on your websites allowing public assess and, as always, it would be good practice for schools to carry out fire drills to check on evacuation procedures.

Kind regards,

Councillor Ayfer Orhan
Cabinet Member for Education, Children’s Services & Protection
Tony Theodoulou Executive Director of Children’s Services

 

 

Please find Durants School Fire Evacuation Plan below.

N.B. The school floor plans have been removed for security purposes.