A multi-million-pound Aberdeen school has had to close its doors to pupils for two days- after a single slate detached from the roof.
Orchard Brae opened in August 2017 and supports children with additional support needs from across Aberdeen.
Council chiefs invested £18.5 million into the Bucksburn school, with facilities including a swimming pool, hydrotherapy pool, soft play and sensory rooms along with specialist art and home economic areas.
But the school had to close today and will remain shut tomorrow as scaffolding put in place to fix the roof slate will block the fire exits, causing a safety hazard for pupils.
An online post from the authority described the works as “emergency repairs”.
It added: “Due to work taking place externally which requires scaffolding to be erected and fire exits to be blocked off, Orchard Brae School and the nursery at Howes Road will remain closed on Tuesday Wednesday. Ashgrove nursery will be open as usual.”
Aberdeen Donside MSP Mark McDonald said: “Obviously this is very disruptive for a lot of parents who will have to find childcare at very short notice.
“This could be particularly hard for parents with children with complex additional needs who will have to find the right childcare support.”
SNP education spokeswoman Catriona Mackenzie added: “This is very disappointing given Orchard Brae is a new school.
“I am sure a number of parents and carers will be massively inconvenienced by this news…”
A council spokesman said: “Following a report of a slate becoming detached from the school frontage we are ensuring the safety of pupils and staff at Orchard Brae by undertaking immediate remedial work.
“As this entails the erection of scaffolding and fencing, some of which unavoidably blocks some of the school’s fire exits, the collective decision was taken to close the school for the duration of the work to ensure safety is maintained.
“We expect the work to be completed by tomorrow but as an added precaution we will not re-open the school to pupils until Thursday morning.
“Parents have been informed and we are doing everything we can to minimise the length of disruption. As always, the safety of our pupils and employees is of paramount importance and we will not compromise on that.”
