Fife schools forced to send pupils home as heating fails.

weather: ‘Freezing classrooms’ caused by heating failures

Schools across Tayside and Fife were forced to send hundreds of pupils home after being hit by a series of heating failures on the first day of term.

Four primary and secondary schools in Fife, two in Dundee and one in Angus were affected as freezing weather hit the region yesterday morning.

In Fife Madras College’s South Street campus in St Andrews, Buckhaven Primary and Pitcoudie Primary, Glenrothes, were shut due to heating problems, while water issues closed Kilmaron School in Cupar.

One parent told The Courier she had to leave her son with relatives after attempting to drop him off at Buckhaven Primary School.

“I just thought that the council would have some sort of system in place where a janitor would go into the building on the Sunday and check to make sure everything was working,” she said.

Braeview Academy in Dundee was shut due to a lack of heating, while St John’s RC High School in the city sent S1-S4 pupils homes for the day at lunchtime. Both schools will be open as normal today.

In Angus, youngsters at Forfar Academy were at their desks for little more than an hour when the decision was taken to send all the pupils home at 10.45am.

Pupils reported “freezing classrooms” at the school, which is part of the award-winning £39 million community campus opened almost a year ago.

The facility also includes community leisure facilities, including the town’s new swimming pool. Those were unaffected.

The Forfar Academy issue is understood to have been the result of a failure of part of the heating system.

The fault was repaired and the school brought back up to temperature during the afternoon.

Angus Council said the academy would open as normal today.

Angus MP Kirstene Hair said: “It will be disappointing for both parents and teachers that the new school has been forced to shut on the first day of term.

“The Scottish Government invested a vast amount of money in the campus, and Angus Council has also spent millions of pounds on a school and leisure facility fit for another generation or more.

“Questions need to be asked as to how an issue causing closure could arise so early in the school’s life.”

Forfar SNP councillor Lynne Devine said: “It’s disappointing.

“Everyone would have been ready for the beginning of term, but these things happen.

“It’s an operational matter and I understand the school will be open as normal on Tuesday.”

No other Angus schools were affected by heating-related issues on the first day of the new term.