Month: April 2016

Schools: the jigsaw’s almost complete

Places now found for all primary school pupils

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All primary pupils affected by school closures now have alternative education plans put in place, the city council has announced. It’s been a massive challenge, but council officers have now found temporary places for almost six thousand city schoolchildren displaced after structural faults were found in seventeen PPP1 schools.

The jigsaw was completed late yesterday afternoon when pupils from the final five primary schools affected – Forthview, Pirniehall, St David’s, Broomhouse and St Josephs – were found alternative education provision.

The children will be relocated to alternative venues across the city from Tuesday next week, and it’s almost a case of ‘any port in a storm’. Some local children have been found accommodation in nearby schools including Granton and Wardie, but for other classes it’s going to mean long daily bus trips at rush hour to places including Wester Hailes, Abbeyhill and Craigmillar

The arrangements are far from ideal: the travel and strange new surroundings can be disruptive and upsetting for children and their families, but for now they know where they are going – at least in the short term. There is no indication yet just how long their own school buildings will remain closed.

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

It’s been a dreadful week of uncertainty for families, but in the past four days the Council has now put in place alternative arrangements for 5,900 pupils, which is quite an achievement. Parents have been directly notified of the new arrangements and details are available on the Council website.

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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.

“On Wednesday 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 ongoing.

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.

 

 

Forthview: going forth across the city

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Forthview Primary pupils will return to school next week – but in classroooms scattered across Edinburgh. Dealing with the temporary closure of seventeen schools has been a logistical nightmare for council officials and it’s proved impossible to keep the Forthview kids together. Continue reading Forthview: going forth across the city

PPP1 school closures: Faults found at ALL schools

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The city council has confirmed that construction faults have been found at all seventeen buildings built during the first PPP contract. The degree of repairs required varies, but council leader Cllr Andrew Burns has conceded that some schools may be closed ‘longer term’. Continue reading PPP1 school closures: Faults found at ALL schools

Scottish Hazards Centre speaks out on Edinburgh Schools ‘scandal’

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Scottish Hazards Centre has issued a statement on the current situation facing some of Edinburgh’s schools: 

It should be a given that when we send our kids to school, they’re safe in their surroundings and that those who are teaching them and working with them are safe at their work. The closure of so many schools on safety grounds has quite rightly been described as a “national scandal”. There are many questions that need to be answered as soon as possible, including:

Why were issues with the build only brought to light by a wall collapse (which thankfully took place through the night and not while school was in session)?

and What level of inspections took place in our schools after the death of young Keane Wallis-Bennett at Liberton High School?

We must continue to make clear that arrangements – whether PPP or similar – which have the client and the contractor effectively as one entity, with no external scrutiny or supervision of build safety but a profit incentive to cost-cut, which can only lead to corners being cut and hazards being increased, are unacceptable. And we must repeat our calls for more proactive preventative inspections to take place in the vast swathes of workplaces (and public places!) that have been classified as “low risk” and taken out of the inspection regime.

Scottish Hazards Centre has grown out of the successful Scottish Hazards Campaign (http://www.scottishhazards.co.uk/).  We hope to provide information on health and safety matters as well as information, support and advice for individuals who have concerns about issues in the workplace.

We are keen to target those individuals who, perhaps, have less access to health and safety support than others.  We have identified home care staff (who usually work in people’s homes) as being particularly at risk.  Both Westminster and Holyrood are keen to reduce the number of hospital admissions and people moving to care homes so Councils are under pressure to provide support at home.  However, due to the cutbacks there is less specialist support (eg physio at home, district nurses) and increasingly, the burden is being borne by home care workers who often have little training in the care they need to give (continence care, dementia support, moving and handling equipment) and are often paid the minimum wage or less.

If you have concerns about safety at your child’s school or at any other place of work, and you would like free, confidential, advice and support, call our Scottish Hazards Centre today on 0800 0015 on 0800 0015  FREE022.

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Letter: we want PPP answers

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Dear Editor,

Given the recent incidents with Schools in Edinburgh that have been closed down due to the substandard quality offered by the Edinburgh Schools Partnership, I would like to see local Labour candidate for the Scottish Parliamentary Elections, and current Edinburgh Councillor Lesley Hinds explain why this situation arrived.

Considering PPP ( public-private partnership) was part of the Labour party’s policy for a long period time, and while this was introduced when labour run Edinburgh council, the Scottish Executive and Westminster Goverment, I would be interested to hear what the Councillor would have to say on this matter.

Alba Reilly (by email)

Union concerns for tenants’ safety as service faces cuts

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UNISON’s Edinburgh branch is warning that cuts to the council’s Private Rented Service Team could threaten safer housing for private tenants and lose the council hundreds of thousands in income. Continue reading Union concerns for tenants’ safety as service faces cuts

Closed schools: Wednesday latest – we’re halfway there

Exciting adventures for Rowanfield

Half of displaced pupils now have temporary new homes

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The majority of the pupils affected by school closures have now been allocated new school places by the city council. Arrangements made today now mean that over 4,400 pupils have alternative education provision in place. 

Among these are Rowanfield Special School pupils, who will move from Drylaw and will be based at Pilton Youth & Children’s Project tomorrow and Friday.

Plans have also been put in place for Rowanfield pupils to have a full day of outings tomorrow thanks to offers from various Edinburgh organisations. They will be visiting Edinburgh Castle and Dynamic Earth in addition to a trip to the National Museum of Edinburgh (above).

Craig Fletcher, Senior Learning Manager at Historic Environment Scotland, who run Edinburgh Castle, said: “We were recently approached by Rowanfield to ask if we could accommodate a visit to the Castle for their pupils. We normally require 10 days notice but due to the exceptional circumstances our bookings team were able to accommodate them at short notice. We are happy to welcome them and hope they have an enjoyable time exploring this iconic place.”

Details for where Rowanfield will be next week and what they’ll be doing will be confirmed as soon as possible!

Other arrangements conformed include: S1, S2 and S3 pupils from Drummond Community High School will join their senior pupils back at the school tomorrow (14 April). This means all Drummond pupils are now back in their school.

S3 pupils at both Firrhill High and Royal High Schools will return to their schools tomorrow (14 April) and join senior year pupils.

Craigour Park Primary pupils will be going to various other primary schools from Friday (15 April).

All Craigroyston Primary pupils will now be going to Craigroyston High School on Friday.

Braidburn pupils will be relocating to several locations from Friday (15 April). Staff will be contacting parents directly to update them on the arrangements for their own individual child.  Transport arrangements are being put in place that will allow children to be taken directly from their homes to their host schools.

Further information on nursery pupils from Craigroyston Primary will be put on the Council website and the Council is hoping to have arrangements for nursery pupils at Castleview Primary in place from Tuesday.

In the past three days the Council has now put in place alternative arrangements for the majority of pupils, with all the arrangements for the schools having been communicated to parents directly and are available on the Council website.

Work is ongoing to identify alternative arrangements for the remaining pupils. The Council anticipates all affected primary and special school pupils will be allocated new school places by Tuesday (19 April) next week as Monday is a Spring Bank Holiday.

Positive discussions have been taking place with the Scottish Qualifications Authority who have agreed that verification and examining visits for all subjects that were due to take place this week will be rescheduled with individual schools.

SQA continues to work with the five schools to provide advice and support, if they require any additional resources.  All pupils taking exams will be in their schools with their teachers by tomorrow.

Council Leader Andrew Burns said: “Having rightly prioritised arrangements for those children taking examinations in the coming weeks, the two special schools were next to be addressed and I’m pleased that these are now in place. I want to pay credit to the Chief Executive and his team for their work since Friday on what has been a huge logistical challenge for the Council.

“We have now put in place alternative education arrangements for the majority of pupils, and work continues to identify alternative options for other primary and S1 to S3 pupils. We will communicate to parents as soon as we have further 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. I’m sure they understand the steps we have taken to ensure the safety of their children.

“The SQA have been very supportive to our situation and I must thank them for the steps they have taken regarding verification and examining visits and help with additional resources.

“I also want to pay tribute again to the response from the organisations, both public and private sector, who have come forward with offers of help and accommodation – most recently Historic Environment Scotland who have today agreed to give a tour of Edinburgh Castle for the children of Rowanfield Special School.”

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.