Shropshire secondary school welcomes back students after closure over safety concerns

William Brookes School in Much Wenlock was forced to partially close last month after an engineer raised concerns over the safety of the school’s balconies. 

The 3-18 Education Trust said "significant efforts" were previously made to enhance the safety of the balconies at the school last year, however a recent inspection found that further reinforcement was required to "fully comply with public and commercial building regulations".

Today (November 5), the school has returned to being a “hive of activity” as it welcomed back its first students following the partial closure.

A phased re-opening will take place this week with students from all year groups expected to be back in school by Friday (November 8).

Temporary scaffolding has been installed at the school to make the respective areas safe to use and enable the re-opening of the building.  

Students in three year groups continued to attend William Brookes School in-person despite the closure as a safety precaution. 

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

Acting Headteacher at William Brookes School, Ruth Shaw said: “We are delighted to  welcome back the whole school community this week. 

“We would like to reiterate our thanks to parents and families for their understanding and support during this time. We are looking  forward to an exciting term ahead.”