A SECONDARY school is closed for the rest of the week after “traces of asbestos” were found by builders on site.

The King Edmund School in Vaughan Close, Richmond, was shut to pupils and staff yesterday (November 15) in mysterious circumstances for what the school had labelled “urgent building work”.

The news was only broken to parents in a statement on Facebook at 10.30pm the night before.

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In a latter to parents, school leadership says the closure was ordered at 8.30pm on Monday  by the Department for Education (DfE).

Work crews – who had bulldozed the old schools blocks in May – were working on site to build a new 30-classroom teaching block when they found “traces of asbestos”.

The Jonathan Osborn, headteacher at the school, told parents in an email sent out last night that the work is likely to take two to three days, and the school will be closed as a “precautionary measure” until it is completed.

It is expected the school will reopen on Monday.

The new 30-classroom building is set to be completed by September 2023.

As part of the works, crews will also help solve “structural defects” on the school site. 

A DfE spokesman said: “King Edmund School decided to temporarily close as a precaution, upon our advice, due to an issue with the building.

“We are working closely with the school and building contractor to allow the school to reopen at the earliest opportunity.”