Repairs and upgrades announced for over 50 Edinburgh schools during half term break

The works announced by the city council range from repairs and maintenance to classroom upgrades, replacement windows, lighting and ceiling upgrades, electrical work and cleaning of gutters.

Works set to be carried out include roofing work, toilet refurbishment and replacement windows at Royal High Primary School and ceiling refurbishment in the dining hall at Leith Primary School.

A new sports pitch will be installed at Wester Hailes Education Centre.

For some schools the February works form part of a major programme to address a backlog in maintenance requirements.

All the work being carried out is in line with the latest Scottish government and health guidance regarding Covid-19.

Council said the programme is "significantly larger than in previous years” as a direct result of decisions in previous budgets for additional investment in the council estate with the majority of the work taking place in schools.

Councillor Ian Perry, Education Convener, said: “Education is a key priority for the Coalition and upgrading and improving our schools is an important strand of work to deliver the best learning environment for our young people especially when they have been out of school for so long during the pandemic.

" We’re making huge strides towards bringing our whole school estate, including our early years settings, up to a good condition with our ongoing maintenance, repair and upgrade programme. This work is on top of the £500m planned investment over the next 10 years for our ambitious new school building programme.”

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.