Students evacuated from classroom after lead falls from ceiling

Students at an Adelaide primary school have been moved from a classroom where dust contaminated with lead has fallen from a ceiling.

Black dust falling from the ceiling was reported by a teacher at East Marden Primary School in Adelaide's eastern suburbs earlier this month.

Students who had been in the classroom were moved to the school gym.

A letter to parents said last week that remediation work was underway and the school was advised that any risk to students from exposure was very low.

It said it was not uncommon to find lead in ceiling dust of old buildings. Ceiling dust can also move into rooms below as a result of wind, ageing buildings or renovations and building works.

Testing in two other buildings built in the 1960s — a block of classrooms and the canteen — found no signs of lead, but the canteen is still closed until remediation work is completed.

A parent at the school wrote to ABC saying she was concerned about the lack of communication from the school in the three weeks between the dust and the letter seen by the ABC.

The Department of Education chief operating officer Ben Temperly said that there had been regular reports to parents about the issue since it was discovered.

We've done the comprehensive testing through some environmental consultants, engaged with SA Health and the specialists there and the consensus is that while this is certainly an issue that needs to be remediated, it presents a low risk to the long-term health of students but also staff in the school, he said.

The ABC was contacted by a person who said two pregnant teachers had not been informed about the lead discovery.

The department had only heard about the complaint through SA Health yesterday, according to Mr Temperly.

He said that work was underway to fix the dust problem as soon as possible. He said parents would have concerns and we tried to connect parents to advice from SA Health or we have recommended that parents talk to their GP if they have ongoing concerns.

Students are expected to move from the gym to another building in term 3.