A Sussex school will be closed for the start of term due to concerns about unsafe concrete.

Greenway Junior School in Horsham will be closed for all pupils on Tuesday as a result of the potentially hazardous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

It is not known whether the school will reopen after this date.

More than 100 schools and colleges across England have been told by the Department for Education to partially or fully close buildings just days before pupils prepare to return after the summer holidays.

RAAC is a lightweight building material used from the 1950s until the mid-1990s but is now assessed to be at risk of collapse.

The Argus:

It comes just days after West Sussex County Council said it was organising a physical inspection of all schools it maintains that were built between 1930 and 2000.

A council spokesman said that none of the schools it maintains will be closing as a result of aerated concrete.

Schools minister and MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton Nick Gibb said the collapse of a beam that had been considered safe sparked an urgent rethink on whether buildings with aerated concrete could remain open.

Gillian Keegan, education secretary and MP for Chichester, said that schools and parents affected by the issue are being contacted.

She said: “We’ve contacted schools and education settings with advice to vacate spaces or buildings known to contain RAAC.

“The schools impacted by this issue will contact parents to let them know if there is any change to the start of term.

“Most schools will be unaffected and children should attend school as normal in September unless you hear differently from the school.”

Another school in East Sussex is also understood to be affected by unsafe concrete, with urgent inspections underway to review if any parts of the building need to be closed.

Brighton and Hove City Council confirmed that no schools it manages are affected by the issue.

A spokesman for GLF Schools Academy Trust, which manages Greenway Junior School, said: "There is no confirmed RAAC at Greenway.

"There are areas where the presence of RAAC cannot be ruled out and these will be out of use until further surveys are complete.

"Parents have been advised that the school will be closed on Tuesday to allow for arrangements to be put in place and will be updated further in due course."