A “TEACHING VILLAGE” of temporary classrooms is to be created at a multi-million pound Private Finance Initiative (PFI) high school which has been closed because of safety concerns.
Balfron High School in west Stirlingshire was partially closed earlier this month after two safety issues were discovered in the building.
Pupils from S1 to S3 are currently being taken to lessons in three other high schools in Stirling – St Modan’s, Wallace and Stirling High.
Senior students are on study leave, with SQA exams being held in parts of the building which are unaffected.
In a letter to parents, headmistress Elaine Bannatyne said that it was hoped that all lessons will be held at Balfron again from the start of next month.
She said: “We are working closely with colleagues from Stirling Council on a plan to bring a temporary teaching village on to our campus.
“Plans are looking towards having everyone here for Monday, June 6 to begin the new timetable as planned.”
Pupils were off school for much of last week after checks found an issue in a stairwell and additional problems in the atrium.
From Friday, they were at the three other schools and Mrs Bannatyne said that the system had been working smoothly so far.
She said: “I know keeping it simple, though frustrating for some, is helping things run smoothly and to plan. This is a temporary arrangement, so your patience is much appreciated in helping us manage transport in a safe way.”
Balfron High was built under a PFI contract some 15 years ago.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here