Announcements on the future of education in the Borders
Wednesday, August 29 2007
At a press conference today (Wednesday 29 August) Councillor Catriona Bhatia, Executive Member for Education, made some important announcements concerning the future of education in the Borders.
Councillor Bhatia was supported at the conference by Council Leader David Parker and Depute Council Leader Neil Calvert.
Councillor Bhatia said: “I am delighted to be able to announce proposals in three reports which will be presented for approval to Councillors next Tuesday and which demonstrate this administration’s clear commitment to invest in the education of children in the Borders and to help working parents.
“Firstly, I am confirming the Council’s investment of over £38 million in six new primary schools which will be completed by June 2012 – Denholm, Caddonfoot, Halyrude, Lauder, Kingsland and West Linton. This is a significant capital investment and, combined with the building of three new high schools, represents a £110 million renewal of the school estate within the next five years. These six new primary schools will provide over 1400 pupil places in first class educational facilities for primary and nursery aged children, as well as providing facilities for the wider community to use outwith school hours.
“I am particularly pleased to be able to announce today that the contract for the building of the replacement primary school in Denholm has been awarded to local company Border Construction and work will commence on site on September 10. The new school will be open in August 2008.
“We are also, for the first time, setting out a clear build timetable for the other five schools in the Borders Primary School project which will be as follows: Lauder and Kingsland to start on site by July 2008 with Lauder expected to be completed by August 2009 and Kingsland by October 2009. Work will commence on the refurbishment of the current Kinglsand building for new facilities for Halyrude School in November 2009 to be completed by February 2010. Work on a new school at Clovenfords to replace Caddonfoot will start by April 2010 to be completed by Feb 2011 and work on a new school for West Linton will start in May 2011 and be completed by June 2012. Although this is a realistic timetable I would also emphasise that at all times we will strive to bring forward these dates, in particular for Caddonfoot, to ensure that we deliver these new schools to our pupils as soon as we possibly can.
“The second important announcement relates to the extension of wraparound and top up care provision in SBC run nurseries. This allows parents to purchase surplus nursery places and nursery wrap around care over lunchtimes. Essentially allowing seamless daycare for children and working parents. This has been successfully piloted in six schools – Chirnside, Eyemouth, Lauder, Stirches, Walkerburn and Wilton, and is also offered at Burnfoot Community School. These schools will now offer this service on a permanent basis and we will be rolling out the service to other parts of the Borders, making better use of our existing resources and focusing on communities where there is a current shortfall in local childcare provision. This shortfall will be highlighted to SBC through the Childcare partnership audit so that we work with the private and voluntary providers to support parents of pre-school children who wish to work or undertake training or further education.
“The third report seeks approval to consult on what could be the biggest change to the structure of the school day and school terms that we have seen in our area for decades. Following representations from the EIS and some school boards, we will be consulting on options for changes to the structure of school terms and holidays. We will also consult at the same time on the possible introduction of an asymmetric week – (typically four longer schools days and one short day). Our aim is to get as wide a range of views as possible from parents, teachers and pupils as well as community councils and other interested parties to see whether such changes would assist in a more effective delivery of education and extra curricular activities, such as sport and music, in Borders schools.
“These proposals announced today, and which I hope will be given approval next week, will allow us to build on the reputation of excellence in education in the Borders whilst ensuring that we make best use of our resources in an innovative and constructive way to meet the aspirations of pupils and parents across our communities.”
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