Pupils facing months away from their school

CAIRNEYHILL: Youngsters will relocate to Tulliallan until Easter

Pupils and staff of Cairneyhill Primary School face months of disruption in the wake of last week’s fire.

Following the blaze which devastated the infant section of the building, the whole school is to be temporarily relocated to Tulliallan until Easter, when it is hoped it can return to its own school.

From this Friday, P1 to P5 pupils will be accommodated within Tulliallan Primary School, around eight miles away, while P6 to P7 classes will be accommodated in the Tulliallan Community Centre – a short walk from Tulliallan Primary.

Parents were notified about the temporary move yesterday with details on transport and after-school arrangements to follow tomorrow once these have been finalised.

Nursery pupils will be accommodated within Crossford Primary and further information will be issued to nursery parents tomorrow regarding transport.

Shelagh McLean, head of service, said: “We will of course transport children to and from Tulliallan school and those arrangements are currently being finalised.

“Nursery children and staff will be accommodated at Crossford nursery. Again transport will be arranged for them. We are still negotiating alternative accommodation for the Cairneyhill out of school club.”

The temporary arrangements at Tulliallan Primary and Crossford nursery will be in place until the spring, when it is hoped children can return to Cairneyhill.

Head teacher Fiona Hall said: “I personally want to thank the staff, children and parents of Tulliallan for sharing their school with us for the time being.

“It is vital that we get all our children together as soon as we can so that we can talk about what has happened and start to get back to normal.

”I also want to publicly take this opportunity to thank my amazing staff team for their care, calmness, support and professionalism and my amazing children, who I always say are the best and they continue to prove this even in such awful circumstances.”

The school has put together plans to ensure shows, a party and comingtogether at the church can go ahead next week.

If parents are wondering what to do with their children until Friday, Fife Sports and Leisure Trust is offering free swims to all Cairneyhill children between 9am and 3pm. Children under eight must be accompanied by a fee paying adult.

Tulliallan head teacher Elspeth Gow said: “For those parents/carers and members of our wider community who remember our fire, we can empathise with the Cairneyhill school and community.

“At the time what stood out for me as the headteacher was the overwhelming support from our village, colleagues from other schools and Fife Council.”

For those parents/ carers and members of our wider community who remember our fire, we can empathise with the Cairneyhill school and community. ELSPETH GOW HEAD TEACHER TULLIALLAN

Picture: Wullie Marr. Youngsters play in front of the school which was devastated by fire last week.