Drummond Community High School will not reopen when the Summer Term starts on Monday.
It is one of 17 capital state schools that will remain closed while safety checks are made on their buildings.
The decision to stay shut was taken yesterday after checks at Oxgangs Primary School, damaged by Storm Gertrude in January, revealed ‘new issues’.
Technical experts working for the Edinburgh Schools Partnership – the body responsible for building, managing and operating the school estate for City of Edinburgh Council – could not offer sufficient safety guarantees to officials.
Hence, a precautionary decision was taken to shut all schools rebuilt or refurbished as part of the same first round of public–private partnerships (PPP1) initiated by Edinburgh’s then Labour Administration in the late 1990s.
Contingency arrangements
Council staff are now busy making contingency arrangements for pupils, with prioritiy given to S4–S6 pupils preparing for exams. Advice to parents and carers will be issued on Monday, but in the meantime they are being told to make alternative plans.
“Clearly we have every right to expect these schools to have been built to a good standard and in accordance with industry practice,’ said Council Leader Cllr Andrew Burns in a statement yesterday.
‘We now know this isn’t the case. ESP have let the Council down but more importantly they have let the children, parents and staff of this city down.
‘We have today alerted the Scottish Government to our concerns.’
The idea for a PPP and £1.7m upgrade for Drummond was first floated to parents here in March 1998. An explanation of the first-round PPPs, and doubts about their desirability, appeared in the Spurtle later that year and again in February 1999 (Issue 56).
Back then, the Council’s new Director of Education Roy Jobson stated: ‘We wish to offer the best possible teaching environment for all our children, and at a time when local authorities across the country are facing a backlog of repairs to their schools, Public Private Partnerships will give us an opportunity to tackle this problem’.
Critics of the scheme argued that it was a misuse of public money and a step towards privatisation which would ultimately prove more expensive than a fully publicly funded alternative.
Paradoxically, Drummond’s then headteacher, Frank McGrail, was appointed to a City-wide Management Board to monitor the plans.
UPDATE (7.12pm, SUNDAY 10 APRIL)
Surveys of potentially affected secondary schools have been prioritised by the Edinburgh School Partnership over this weekend.
An update on their findings and any necessary contingency arrangements is hoped to be available here and via Spurtle from Tuesday.
Edinburgh University is offering support, and the Scottish Government has made structural engineers available if required.
In a statement released this evening, City of Edinburgh Council Chief Executive Andrew Kerr said: ‘I today sought assurances from Edinburgh Schools Partnership that their ongoing programme of inspections would give us the confidence to reopen our schools. I have offered to help them secure the necessary resources to complete this as quickly as possible.
‘I also reminded them of their contractual and financial obligations and want to assure Edinburgh residents that they will not be left footing the bill.
‘The safety of children and our staff is our main priority and I’m simply not willing to compromise on this. I fully recognise the significant inconvenience to parents caused by these closures but I am sure they will understand why we had to take these steps.
‘Officers are continuing to work on contingency arrangements and we will provide regular updates to parents and carers as and when further information becomes available.’
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FROM THE ARCHIVE: One month before the Holyrood election of May 1999, candidates Anne Dana (SNP) and Malcolm Chisholm (Labour) debated the best way to fund our state schools in the Spurtle (Issue 58, p.2).
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Sandra Bagnall Oh dear. Chickens coming home to roost and no community assets to use because they've been sold off for housing. It's as if there's no strategic plan for the city.
Tweets on this subject coming faster and thicker than we can process them on evening of 10 April . Below is a selection of key points. For full discussion, go to Twitter and follow individual Conversation threads.
.@Edinburgh_CC need to release ALL the contract info relating to the PFI agreements. @LAHinds @AndrewDBurns. it makes a difference.
@CityCycling @LAHinds @theSpurtle Yes, I'd been wondering whether we could see the contracts.
@CityCycling @Edinburgh_CC @AndrewDBurns all available
@CityCycling @DavidSterratt Pretty sure I remember the contracts being sealed back around 2000 owing to commercial sensitivity.
So I ask again. @LAHinds. Please will you provide link to all the PFI contracts. Thanks. @theSpurtle @Edinburgh_CC @AndrewDBurns
Lesley Hinds @LAHinds Edinburgh, Scotland
@CityCycling @theSpurtle documents were before available on line,paper copies I will ask tommorrow if they can be put on line
@DavidSterratt @CityCycling @theSpurtle I'd also doubt council voting records have been digitised from around then. Would be a paper chase.
@nigelbagshaw I am as interested in seeing the terms of the contract as much as the voting record @PWMartin_Leith @theSpurtle @DavidSterratt
@CityCycling @nigelbagshaw @theSpurtle @DavidSterratt agreed.My son goes to Drummond,having bailed out banks I'm in no mood to bail out #PFI