Tributes Paid To Schoolgirl In Edinburgh

Urgent school building checks will begin today after a 12-year-old pupil died when a wall in a PE changing room collapsed on her.

The girl, named locally and on social media as Keane Wallis-Bennett, was pronounced dead at Liberton High School in Edinburgh shortly before 10am yesterday. 

Pupils were sent home early, while police and health and safety officials launched an inquiry. Edinburgh City Council said the wall that collapsed was a ``free-standing modesty wall'', and all other such walls in its other schools are to be checked by building surveyors, starting this morning. 

The school will not reopen this week and a full council survey of Liberton High will be completed before pupils return from the Easter holidays in three weeks. 

Police and the Health and Safety Executive are also to meet today to discuss who will lead the investigation into the death. 

Flowers were left under the school entrance sign yesterday. One bunch included a card which read: ``Rest in peace Keane. God has gained another angel.'' 

Parents congregated at the school gates in the hours after the incident to collect their children. 

The school will remain closed for the rest of the week, with only study groups open to pupils preparing for exams in the new games hall. 

The incident comes just weeks after Edinburgh City Council was fined £8,000 after a girl at the school was seriously injured when she fell more than 16ft down a broken-down lift shaft. 

The schoolgirl, then aged 15, suffered three fractured vertebrae and a sprained wrist as a result of the fall in December 2011. 

The council said a survey of all its schools was carried out between 2012 and 2013 and no concerns were identified with the wall at Liberton High. 

A spokesman said: ``As a precaution, specialist council building services staff will be surveying all similar walls in schools where we know that they exist. The survey work will begin early on April 2. 

``As a further precaution, a full survey will be carried out on Liberton High School in the coming days before the main school building re-opens to pupils.'' 

The latest incident is the second tragedy to hit the school in recent months. Jamie Skinner, 13, a pupil at Liberton High School, died after collapsing on a football pitch while playing for Tynecastle FC at the end of last year. 

The school is in the south of Edinburgh and has 65 staff and 650 pupils. 

First Minister Alex Salmond visited the school in December for a talk by astronaut Chris Hadfield. 

Mr Salmond said a ``rigorous investigation'' will be held into the incident. 

``It's really tragic circumstances and my heart goes out to the family and friends,'' he said. 

``A proper investigation will takes its course. Yes, there was another incident in the school but at first sighting it doesn't seem related to this tragic occurrence. 

``But these things will be properly investigated by the council in the first instance ... this is not the moment to speculate on cause, this is about expressing condolences in these tragic circumstances and the appalling accident that has befallen a young girl at school.''