Headteacher Eugene Symonds is looking at a sign in one of his school’s temorary classrooms. “Warning: Encapsulated Asbestos. Do not cut or make fixings without proper authority and precautions,” it says.

Pupils at this primary school in Oxfordshire use this area every day as a cloakroom. Symonds is trying to look on the bright side. “Our asset managers will tell us if there’s anything to worry abaout. I’m armed with the knowledge that if it’s enclosed and not causing problems, you should leave it alone,” he says. Then he stands back and looks at the notice again. “It is quite worrying, isn’t it? Now I’m not so sure.”

The 400 pupil school has had four temorary classrooms since it opened in 1956. And while most of the school was rebuilt after a fire in the 1990’s, the prefabs survived.
‘The department recently carried out a survey of school property, but asbestos was specifically excluded from it.’

This is an issue that is exciting a growing chorus of complaints nationally. Campaigners take the view that schools are very different places from offices, because children can be careless and buikdings can easily be damaged, allowing asbestos fibers into the air. The debate continues.