A Braeview Academy teacher has been blown away by the support from Dundee businesses to keep pupils active while the fire-ravaged school is shut.
Head of PE Kenny Clarkson reached out to local health providers in the hope of keeping S1 and S2 pupils active before starting back at school.
A hastily drawn timetable saw the younger pupils heading to Baldragon Academy and Cragie High School after a fire gutted part of the building earlier this month.
Classes for S3-S6 pupils started last week, but S1 and S2 pupils had to wait until Monday before going back to school.
The damage to the building is not a bad as first feared, with education convener Stuart Hunter saying it would reopen in “weeks, not months”.
Mr Clarkson said: “We managed to organise timetables at Craigie for the senior pupils at Cragie, but due to logistics the first and second years weren’t able to start until later.
“We wanted to organise something for the week so that they weren’t sitting about playing PlayStation.
“There were some local businesses who very good.
“It was all about giving something active for the kids to do during their time off.”
Among organisations offering their services free of charge to the Braeview pupils were Dundee United FC, who let the youths take part in a football training week and Dundee FC, who gave away 50 free tickets to this weekend’s home match against Hibernian.
Douglas Sports Centre offered youngsters time to play tennis, Olympia swimming pool gave the pupils free entry during school hours, and newly-opened “Xtreme Air Sports” centre Ryze hosted around 60 pupils on Friday afternoon.
Mr Clarkson added: “For Ryze to offer places when they only opened on Tuesday was incredible. It must of cost all the companies some money so it’s really appreciated.
“We are very grateful towards all of the businesses that offered something to ensure that pupils are still healthy and active during their short time off school.
“Teachers from other departments have all been great too, using online tools to make sure the pupils always had schoolwork to do.”
