Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Harlaw Academy to re-open to pupils after weekend fire

Post Thumbnail

Pupils will return to their Aberdeen school on Tuesday morning after it was damaged by fire at the weekend.

Firefighters were called to Harlaw Academy at 1.30am on Saturday where they discovered smashed windows and multiple small fires.

Police are treating the incident as “wilful fireraising” and an investigation is ongoing.

Sadly the 920-pupil school has been forced to cancel its Christmas concert and talent show which had been due to take place on Tuesday night.

Angela Taylor, convener of the city council’s education committee, said it was “really disappointing” for pupils who had put in so much hard work.

She added: “Since hearing the dreadful news that the school had been damaged as a result of a fire, council staff, specialist cleaners and others have worked extremely hard to ensure the school meets health and safety requirements so it can open to pupils tomorrow.

“I would like to thank everyone who has helped to make this possible.”

Headteacher David Innes said his main concern had been for pupils preparing for exams after the Christmas holidays and those applying for university places whose applications must be handed in by Friday.

He said: “Your fear the worst when you hear about this sort of thing.

“We got access to the building on Saturday and saw what we were looking at – it is really disappointing.

“But because of the support we have had from everyone, we are going to be able to open tomorrow to the whole school.”

A classroom in the school’s B block still requires a significant amount of work while damage to other classrooms in the block is minimal.

Worst affected areas have been sealed off from pupils and staff, including the library, so that specialist cleaning and repair work can continue throughout the week and over the Christmas break.

Local councillor Martin Greig said it was regrettable pupils’ studies had been disrupted.

He added: “This has been a very upsetting incident and it is good to know that the school is re-opening.”

It took 18 firefighters more than two hours to bring the situation under control using breathing apparatus, hose reel jets and thermal imaging cameras.

Anyone with information about the fire has been urged to contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.