UPDATE: Edinburgh School closures: alternative arrangements announced
Edinburgh Council says all primary and special school pupils affected by the building safety crisis will be back in classes by Monday of next week.
Edinburgh Council says all primary and special school pupils affected by the building safety crisis will be back in classes by Monday of next week.
S4, S5 and S6 pupils from Firrhill, Drummond and Royal High Schools will be able to return to their own schools from 9.30am tomorrow morning (13th April).
These three schools only had partial refurbishments as part of the PPP1 project.
S4, S5 and S6 pupils at Gracemount will be going to Liberton High school from tomorrow and Craigmount High pupils will be going to Tynecastle High from Thursday.
Pupils will be taught by their own teachers from their own schools in a bid to ensure continuity ahead of their exams. Arrangements for all S1 to S3 pupils in the five high schools are still being finalised.
A programme of structural surveys arranged by Edinburgh Schools Partnership are continuing this week, with updated information being confirmed as early as possible in respect of each school.
Chief Executive Andrew Kerr said: “We have plans in place to ensure all primary and special school pupils will be back in schools by Monday of next week subject to the Council getting access to the closed schools.
“Our focus is very much on getting our school children back into education as soon as possible.
“Edinburgh Schools Partnership are continuing with their programme of inspections which began on Friday, and have committed to providing new information as and when it becomes available.
“I fully recognise the significant inconvenience to parents caused by these closures and I want to thank them for their patience as we continue to work through this issue.
"I can assure them that as soon as we have new information, we will pass it on. Daily updates will also be available via the council website.
“I also want to pay tribute to the response from a number of city organisations, both public and private sector, who have come forward with offers of help.
"There’s been a real sense of the Edinburgh community pulling together and we are very grateful for that."