“It’s an honour for me to be able to support this organisation and indeed this community, both of whom I admire.” – Irvine Welsh
The Junction – Young People, Health & Well-being is a Leith based charity offering support to young people living in North East Edinburgh. Irvine Welsh was born in Leith and grew up in North East Edinburgh which gives him an understanding of the challenges these young people may face. Continue reading Healthy Respect: Junction patron Irvine Welsh drops in
All 7,600 primary and secondary pupils affected by school closures now have alternative education plans put in place for next week. The final pieces of a very complicated jigsaw puzzle were slotted in this afternoon. Continue reading School places for all: Mission Accomplished!
It’s all grow at The Botanics this weekend!
To mark 2016’s National Gardening Week, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is hosting a Spring Festival as People’s Postcode Lottery’s national Charity of the Week. Players of People’s Postcode Lottery have awarded an amazing £450,000 to RBGE for 2016, supporting projects at home and abroad. Continue reading Botanics’ Spring Festival is perfect ending to National Gardening Week
Get hands on with history in new community project
Local residents are being asked to get hands on with history by taking part in a nationwide initiative to record the littlest local landmarks in Scotland’s towns and cities. Continue reading Urban detectives needed to record city’s small places
Royston Wardieburn Community Centre’s new adult activities Spring Chickens group met for the first time yesterday, and by all accounts it seems the participants had an eggstra-special time! Continue reading Early success for Royston Wardieburn’s Spring Chickens
Places now found for all primary school pupils
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.
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 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
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 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.
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.
Practical exams due to be held this week have been postponed due to the ongoing Edinburgh PPP1 schools closures. Continue reading Closed High Schools: Practical exams postponed
