"Building site" Kingussie school to remain closed

Kingussie High School is not expected to re-open until next week after Highland Council assurances that it would be business as normal tomorrow (Friday).

Highland Council has now confirmed the return to classrooms has been delayed for a second time.

A spokeswoman said: "Kingussie High School will not re-open tomorrow due to technical difficulties with the fire alarm system which have emerged during the course of today.

"Despite the best endeavours of all involved, the fire alarm system is non-compliant and as such the fire service and building control are not willing to re-open the building for pupils until the system is fully compliant."Under these circumstances it is therefore not possible to re-open the school."A further update will be provided tomorrow morning (Friday)."The Highland Council apologises for this inconvenience."
There was bitter disappointment and frustration amongst parents at least as the much-heralded opening of the school’s £3.5 million extension failed to materialise yesterday (Wednesday) as scheduled.

And the Strathy reported in its latest issue that assurances by the local education authority that the school would reopen tomorrow (Friday) were received with some scepticism by parents.

They had to wait until 4pm on Tuesday when Highland Council officials finally confirmed the decision not to open the school next day on health and safety grounds.

It is understood that staff at the school raised their concerns about the school being unsafe because it was still a "building site" and "mess".

They were deeply unhappy when Inverness officials – who it is claimed had not visited the site – maintained that the school would open as scheduled. The staff had even consulted with their unions.

Education chiefs later apologised for the inconvenience and said the delay was due to incomplete works on construction of the new block at the school and the associated clean-up.

Headteacher John Tracey said before the latest delay: "The staff have been working full on because they’re so excited about the facilities that will exist here and they simply can’t wait to get to work.

"It’s just been incredibly frustrating for everybody, but we’ll get there.

"When it came right down to it, we didn’t want to open with so many little things still needing done with the place all stoury. But give us a couple of weeks and we’ll be all done and dusted and everyone here will be going ‘Wow"!"

At the same time, part of the building will remain a building site and there is still some tarmacing to do, he said.

"It’s cosmetic, mainly, and we will be able to function as a school again.

"As for the lack of communication and the lateness of the decision, I can only say that it’s the authority that makes the decisions, not myself or the staff.

"But now we’re looking forward to functioning again and hopefully everything will be back to normal very soon."

Local Highland Councillor Gregor Rimell bitterly regretted that the situation had been allowed to develop.

He said: "We’ll have to see what happens now. All I can say is that it’s a huge disappointment for everybody knowing as we do just what a fantastic facility the new building is going to be.

"This should have been a day for massive celebration and excitement, instead it’s just been a let-down and it’s not over yet by a long way."

A year’s disruption at the school was not enough time to finish the work.

The school's parent council has been critical about the lack of information for parents over the closures.

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