DISRUPTION caused by the ongoing closure of parts of Preston Lodge High School will continue into the new academic year, the school's headteacher has confirmed.

Gavin Clark confirmed in a letter to parents that, regardless of the amount of remedial works carried out over the summer, some of the areas already closed would be "unavailable" for the new session.

Last month, East Lothian Council had confirmed that parts of the school would close on a temporary basis while safety inspections took place.

And following the discovery of structural issues in certain parts of the building, the council informed parents that these areas would be closed for an extended period of time.

The inspections came on the back of the council’s desire to inspect buildings across the county that were constructed using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

RAAC is a lightweight form of concrete used in roof, floor, cladding and wall construction in the UK from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s.

The UK Government has encouraged local authorities to inspect buildings made with RAAC, with particular concern given to roofs due to the limited durability of the material.

The "structural issues" with this material have already forced the extended closure of The Brunton in Musselburgh.

The school term is scheduled to end on Wednesday but it has now been confirmed that these closures will at least partially continue into the new school year.

Mr Clark said: "This has clearly not been the end to school session which anyone wanted and, whilst we have been able to minimise the impact on learning by invoking our business continuity plan and completing the exam programme, there has been inevitable disruption in the school which we have had to carefully manage.

"We have, for example, made timetabling adjustments and been flexible in how we use the space available to us.

"I want to pay tribute to and thank all students, staff and families for their patience, understanding and support. We have been resilient as a community and we have been able to find solutions.

"However, this has been difficult and unsettling for everybody.

"While engineers are considering the options for potential remedial actions and timescales, we are working on plans for the start of the new school session in August.

"We do so now knowing it is highly likely that – regardless of when remedial work begins – some of the space currently closed will still be unavailable to us at that time.

"Our focus continues to be on achieving the best possible learning experience for all students and staff.

"We are working on contingency plans which will include some temporary, alternative arrangements to provide the necessary learning and teaching space for all year groups.

"Although I am not currently in a position to confirm these arrangements or timetabling adjustments, the school will provide a further update before the summer break.

"In the meantime, we are continuing to work closely with colleagues from East Lothian Council and are putting a significant amount of work into managing what is a highly complex matter, in order to minimise disruption and return to normality as quickly as possible."

The areas affected by the closures are the PE gyms and games hall, the maths 'gallery' corridor and its three adjoining classrooms, the top floor of C Block (Modern Languages, Business/IT and RME), and the top floor of the art/science block.

It is unclear which of these areas would open first, or which is most heavily affected by the the use of RAAC.