Edinburgh Schools Closures updates – All primary school pupils now have alternative plans

The City of Edinburgh Council has just announced that arrangements have been made for all primary pupils affected by school closures to attend classes somewhere appropriate even if it is not their own school.

This means that 5,900 primary and secondary pupils have confirmed arrangements in place.

Arrangements made today (Thursday 14 April) now mean that the remaining five primary schools have alternative education provision in place.

These are:

Pupils from Broomhouse, St Josephs, Forthview, Pirniehall and St David’s will be relocated to alternative venues from Tuesday (19 April). Finalised details will be shared with parents later today.

In the past four days the Council has now put in place alternative arrangements for 5,900 pupils. All the arrangements have been communicated to parents directly and details are available on the Council website.

Work is ongoing to identify alternative arrangements for some remaining S1 to S3 pupils.

Council Leader Andrew Burns said: “I’m delighted we have now been able to put in place arrangements for our primary, special school and majority of secondary pupils. Work is continuing to accommodate our S1, S2 and S3 pupils.

“The integration of pupils sharing schools has been going well and all our host staff and children have been welcoming the additional pupils and their teachers. I again want to pay credit to the Chief Executive and his team for their work on what has been a huge logistical challenge for the Council.

“Yesterday evening the Council received early indications that suggest evidence of faults across all 17 affected schools to a varying extent.  At the moment it is too early to say what the impact will be as full survey results from Edinburgh Schools Partnership have not been yet been received.   Some faults may be easy to fix and may not present a major problem while others could be longer term.

“We will provide parents with further information on the impact of individual school surveys once the full reports are received and assessed.

“What is certain is that we won’t take risks with the safety of our schools children and schools won’t reopen until Edinburgh Schools Partnership can assure us of their safety.  As part of the contract, Edinburgh Schools Partnership own, maintain and assure the safety of the affected buildings.

“We will publish further information on individual school surveys when these are formally received and of course provide an update to parents on their individual schools and the remediation works required.”

The programme of structural surveys arranged by the Edinburgh Schools Partnership is continuing this week.

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