All pupils affected by Edinburgh school closures to return to class next week
All 7,600 primary and secondary pupils hit by the Edinburgh school closures sparked by safety concerns will resume lessons next week.
All 7,600 primary and secondary pupils hit by the Edinburgh school closures sparked by safety concerns will resume lessons next week.
Arrangements include 16 temporary classrooms being installed at The Royal High School and 390 pupils from Firhill High School being accommodated at a university campus.
Other pupils are being accommodated at various schools and education centres. They will be taught in their own class groups and by their own teachers.
In total, 61 alternative schools are being used with 655 teachers relocated and 70 bus services laid on to transport pupils from the 17 schools affected.
Thousands of children missed out on lessons and practical exams were postponed this week after Edinburgh City Council announced last Friday the schools would not reopen as planned after the Easter break because of concerns about their construction.
Pupils returned to the classroom in stages throughout the week as alternative arrangements were put in place.
Council leader Andrew Burns said: I'm pleased we have now been able to put in place arrangements for all our pupils and I can assure parents and pupils that work will be taking place over the weekend and Monday to ensure the new arrangements are ready for their arrival next week.
It's great to hear about how well the integration of pupils sharing schools has been going and how the people of Edinburgh have responded.
We will provide parents with further information on individual school surveys once the full reports are received and assessed.''
Mr Burns previously warned some of the schools could be affected in the longer term'' and the council hadreceived early indications that suggest evidence of faults across all 17 affected schools to a varying extent''.
The schools were all built or refurbished under the same PPP scheme around 10 years ago by Edinburgh Schools Partnership, which last week revealed it was unable to provide safety assurances for the premises, sparking the closures.
The partnership is carrying out structural surveys at the schools over the weekend and in to next week.