Rats delay start of new term for Lumphanan school pupils

The return of about 40 pupils to a north-east school following the summer holidays has been delayed after evidence of rats was found.

Lumphanan Primary in Aberdeenshire had been expected to reopen to children on Wednesday morning.

But when staff returned to work on Tuesday they discovered signs of rats having been in the building.

Pest controllers have been brought in and Aberdeenshire Council said it did not expect the school to be able to reopen until next week.

The local authority said the health, safety and wellbeing of the pupils and staff was its "highest priority".

A spokesperson said: "We are currently working with a pest control company to address the situation as quickly as possible, however, unfortunately this means that the school was not able to reopen as expected.

"We currently anticipate that we will not be able to reopen safely until Monday 24 August at the earliest and are currently exploring alternatives."