Forres Academy faulty concrete update: "Reassured" Moray Council leader says "I'm also a parent at the school"
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
MORAY Council has issued an update, after parents were told how Forres Academy is dealing with faulty concrete problems until the October holidays.
The school, which contains Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), was closed for two days this week as plans for the next three weeks were drawn up.
Moray’s term ends on Friday October, 6 with schools returning on Monday October, 23 when the next phase of Forres Academy’s contingency plan will be in place.
The local authority has revealed what the next few weeks will look like for parents and pupils.
The school remains closed to pupils on Monday, September 18 and the day will be used to continue preparing the school for partial re-opening on Tuesday (September 19) and Wednesday (September 20).
A council spokesperson confirmed that planned full opening on Thursday and Friday depends on how the earlier opening goes.
The affected areas of the school span the whole of the first floor and two smaller areas of the ground floor, all of which are closed for use.
A number of spaces, including the social area, games halls and offices are being reconfigured into learning spaces to allow the 826 pupils to return to most subjects.
Some practical subjects will not be available up until the October break but plans for these are being considered for the rest of the year.
Council leader Councillor Kathleen Robertson, said: “The team at Forres Academy, our education leaders, property experts and many teams within the council have worked tirelessly to get the school back into operational use as quickly and as safely as possible.
"I’m extremely impressed with the response from the council and Fairhurst, who have worked well together in extremely challenging circumstances.
“I appreciate the uncertainty of what is happening and what the next few weeks will look like is difficult for many of us.
"I’m also a parent at the school and understand the need to plan ahead.
"I’m reassured that further communication will come from the school next week directly to parents setting out how the next few weeks will shape up.
"In the meantime I’d urge all parents and pupils to have a look at the information sent to them today, which goes a long way to answering a lot of the questions we know they have.”
