School closures: high school students to return from tomorrow

HIGH school students affected by Friday's school closures will return from tomorrow, according to contingency plans announced by Edinburgh Council.

Gracemount students are going to Liberton High. Picture: Julie Bull

S4, S5 and S6 pupils from Drummond, Firrhill and Royal High - which only had partial refurbishments as part of the PPP1 project - will return to their own schools tomorrow morning from 9.30am.

S4, S5 and S6 pupils from Gracemount will go to Liberton High School from tomorrow. S4, S5 and S6 pupils from Craigmount will go to Tynecastle High School from Thursday. Pupils will be taught by their own teachers from their own schools, to ensure continuity ahead of their exams.

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Specific times and arrangements for the senior phase pupils will be communicated to the parents directly and available on the Council website. Further updates for S1, S2 and S3 pupils will be available later in the week.

Further updates on alternative arrangements will be issued to parents this afternoon.

Work is ongoing to identify alternative arrangements for primary and special school pupils and it is planned they will be in alternative schools by Tuesday next week as the Monday is a Spring Bank Holiday. This is subject to the Council getting access to the closed schools to move necessary furniture and equipment.

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Chief executive Andrew Kerr said: “We identified senior phase pupils who are preparing for their exams as a priority and I’m pleased that we now have arrangements in place for them to go back to school.

“Work is continuing to identify alternative options for primary, special and S1 to S3 pupils which we will communicate to parents as soon as we have the information.

“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.”

A programme of structural surveys arranged by the Edinburgh Schools Partnership are continuing this week.

The Council will update parents directly, via the Council website (www.edinburgh.gov.uk/schoolclosures) and via the Council Twitter @Edinburgh_CC as soon as information becomes available.