All school closures pupils to return to class next week

Inspections are being carried out at all the Edinburgh PPP schools

Every student affected by schools closures in Edinburgh will be able to return to school next week, the city council has confirmed.

Alternative arrangements have now been put in place for 7,600 primary and secondary school pupils.

The City of Edinburgh Council said accommodation has also been found for 740 nursery children.

Seventeen school buildings were closed earlier this week amid safety concerns over structural issues.

• Why are Edinburgh schools closed?

Pupils at five secondaries, 10 primaries and two additional support needs schools were unable to return to school after the Easter break as a result of the closures.

A series of inspections revealed construction defects at all 17 schools built under the PPP1 project.

The problems, identified after a school wall collapsed, relate to missing ties used to support building walls.

Some students have returned to school this week but most will not be back in the classroom until Tuesday next week.

S1, S2 and S pupils at Craigmount High will go back to school on Wednesday - a day later than anticipated.

The council has confirmed arrangements for five primary schools and for younger pupils at three high schools.

• Firhill High School - S1 and S2 pupils will be relocated to Edinburgh Napier University's Craiglockhart campus from Tuesday 19 April.

• Gracemount High School - S1- S3 pupils will attend classes at Westre Hailes Education Centre from Tuesday.

• The Royal High School - 16 temporary classrooms will be installed in the grounds for S1 and S2 pupils, who will also return on Tuesday.

Arrangements at Craigmount High School are slightly different; S1-S3 pupils will return to the classroom on Wednesday.

• Children in S1 will be based in Forrester High School/ St Augustine's High School campus;

• S2 pupils will be in the Darroch Centre (currently known as James Gillespie's Annexe)

• Students in S3 will be taught at Broughton High School.

The council said children will be taught in their own class groups, by their own teachers.

Primary school pupils from Broomhouse, St Josephs, Forthview, Pirniehall and St David's will also be relocated to alternative venues from Tuesday.

Some children started to return to school earlier this week under the council's contingency plans

Older pupils at Craigmont High School have been using classrooms at Tynecastle High School.

Craigmount head teacher Tom Rae said the integration has been going "very smoothly".

"All students are now working hard to prepare for SQA exams in classes with their own teachers," he said.

"This is a unique situation and ensuring it operates successfully and things go smoothly is down to incredible efforts of both staff teams.

"Craigmount is hugely appreciative of the generosity of Tynecastle staff and students in allowing us to share their school."

Council Leader Andrew Burns said: "I'm pleased we have now been able to put in place arrangements for all our pupils and I can assure parents and pupils that work will be taking place over the weekend and Monday to ensure the new arrangements are ready their arrival next week.

"It's great to hear about how well the integration of pupils sharing schools has been going and how the people of Edinburgh have responded.

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