Council confirms local schools will be closed for months
Parents and carers worst fears were realised with the announcement this afternoon that local primary schools Craigroyston, Forthview, Pirniehall and St Davids are to remain closed until after the summer holidays. Rowanfield, too, will stay shut until August.
Three schools affected by the recent closures – Oxgangs, St Peter’s and Braidburn – will reopen next month once full remediation work has been completed, but that will be small consolation to families in North Edinburgh.
The Edinburgh Schools Partnership (ESP), who manage and operate the schools on behalf of the Council, has updated officers on their completion dates for remediation works.
Pupils will return to Oxgangs Primary, St Peter’s Primary and Braidburn School on Tuesday (24 May -Monday is a holiday), with Firrhill High School due to fully reopen by Monday 6 June. S1 and S2 pupils from Firrhill will meantime return to their own school, from Edinburgh Napier University’s Craiglockhart Campus, on Tuesday (3 May) when senior year pupils go on exam leave.
Two further schools, Royal High and Drummond Community High, are expected to reopen fully by Monday 20 June with Broomhouse Primary and St Joseph’s Primary schools expected to reopen by Monday 27 June.
This means that over 4,000 pupils will be back in their schools before the end of the summer term.
The Council is working closely with ESP on the programme which gives indicative dates for schools to reopen which are reasonable assumptions based on the programme of works. If it is possible to bring forward these dates then the Council and ESP will do this and parents will be updated as soon as possible.
Goodtrees Community Centre is expected to reopen on Monday 15 August.
The full remediation programme is subject to the Council receiving satisfactory quality assurances from Edinburgh Schools Partnership, and contractors carrying out remedial works on their behalf, and the Council receiving appropriate safety assurances and checks this work is of the required standard to ensure the safety of children.
The Council has stipulated that a number of stringent measures must be met before the schools can reopen and these will be made available to parents via the Council website.
“The planned programme of remediation works from Edinburgh Schools Partnership gives everyone a clearer picture of when schools will reopen and I am sure parents will welcome the news. I want to again thank all those affected by the closures, for their patience during this period of uncertainty.
“The safety of our children is our number one priority and we all want our schools to reopen safely, as soon as possible. We will continue to work with ESP and their partners to ensure all work and quality checks are completed, so we can update parents as quickly with information about their schools. If we are able to bring forward reopening dates then we will do so.
“I would like to thank all school staff and colleagues across the Council for their continued support, professionalism and commitment. This has been a challenging time and the way everyone has pulled together, both in the closed and receiving schools, has been exceptional. Everyone is working together to minimise the impact on our children.”
Head teachers will continue to keep parents of pupils at their schools updated regularly on current arrangements and any changes that are made.
Details will also be published on the Council website
(www.edinburgh.gov.uk/schoolclosures)
and via the Council Twitter @Edinburgh_CC.
- Seventeen schools were closed on Monday 11 April which affects 7,600 primary and secondary pupils and 740 nursery pupils.
- All exam candidates were accommodated in educational arrangements by Wednesday 13 April.
- All 344 Drummond Community High School pupils were back in their school on 14 April and 1,237 Royal High School pupils returned to their school on 19 April.
- Today’s announcement means 890 pupils are set to return to their own schools by 24 May with another 500 returning to their schools on 27 June.
- This brings the total of pupils expected to be back in their schools before the end of the summer term to 4,060.
Responding to reports that some Edinburgh Schools will not reopen until August, Andy Wightman, local government spokesperson for the Scottish Greens and MSP candidate for Lothian, said:
“While the news that some schools may not re-open until August is not a surprise it will come as a big disappointment to many families who are seeing dozens of hours lost through travel time and education conditions that are far from ideal despite the massive efforts of teachers and other staff.
“As each day goes past the questions mount for Edinburgh Schools Partnership, the private consortium set up to build and manage these schools, but in reality little more than a funding mechanism for extracting big profits out of education. The company just does not seem to get the scale and urgency of what needs to be done.”
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