Contingency arrangements have now been made for pupils and staff at Liberton Primary School which will remain closed due to the significant damage caused by Wednesday’s fire.
The priority has been to ensure that the whole school returns to the site of the primary school as safely and as quickly as possible.
To allow for cleaning up operations and installing temporary buildings a short-term decant of the whole school is necessary as work continues to make the entire school site safe.
We anticipate pupils and staff will be able to return to the primary school after the Easter holidays but in the meantime the following arrangements have been made:
Prestonfield Primary School will be taking all nursery children, P1A, P1B and P1/2Castleview Primary School will be taking P2A and P2B
Castlebrae High School will be taking P3 – P6
Inch House Community Education Centre will be taking P7
Senior staff from Liberton Primary School visited the schools and Inch House this morning and will continue to work with teams from across the Council to finalise the contingency plans.
Transport will be provided by the Council for all pupils both going to and leaving from the schools they will be based at. Pick up and drop off points will be close to Liberton Primary School. Parents and carers will be updated next week with details of these arrangements.
iberton staff will be setting up their classrooms on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 February with pupils starting lessons on the Wednesday.
The Liberton Primary School Association is being kept up to date on progress.
Structural engineers will continue their assessment of the fire-damaged building over the weekend. The cause is being investigated by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
Paul Ewing, Head Teacher at Liberton Primary School, said: “This has obviously been a deeply upsetting time for the school and our pupils. I want to thank our staff, families and friends who have rallied round since the fire and all the messages of support from across the whole school community.
“We will be working closely with the four venues in finalising arrangements for our pupils and staff. I know everyone will be working together to ensure that our Liberton school family is supported.”
Education Convener Councillor Ian Perry said: “The safety of our pupils and staff is paramount. They’ll be naturally disappointed they can’t return to the school immediately but I’m sure they will fully understand that the whole school site has been impacted by the fire as I saw first-hand yesterday.
“Praise must go to everyone who has worked tirelessly over the past two days in reacting so swiftly and positively to this major incident. It’s been a huge challenge to put in place alternative plans to educate 500 pupils at such short notice.”
Education Vice Convener Councillor Alison Dickie said: “We realise the 48 hours since the fire has been a very unsettling time for families and staff. I’m glad we have put in place alternative arrangements so quickly and we will ensure parents are updated with further developments.
“Having visited Liberton Primary School a few months ago I know their dedicated teaching staff will work very closely with their colleagues at the schools to minimise any impact the new arrangements will have on pupils and families.”
Further updates will be issued to parents and posted on our website and social media channels.