Peebles High School engagement session extended due to high demand

Published: 1st February 2023

An engagement session, to discuss the new Peebles High School, taking place tomorrow (Thursday 2 February) has been extended to accommodate high demand.

Drop-in session opening hours extended 

A drop-in session, that is open to all members of the local community and the general public, has been extended by two hours and will now run between the hours of 4-8pm at the Eastgate Theatre in Peebles. 

Space available at additional session earlier in the afternoon

An additional early afternoon session is also being opened up to members of the public between the hours of 2pm-4pm. This has been made possible by low levels of interest from community groups who were invited to planned earlier and later sessions.

This supplementary session will allow us to accommodate a wider range of people, community groups, and organisations who may not be able to attend the drop-in session later in the day, to provide views and discuss any aspect of the school.   

The content for both sessions will be exactly the same and will focus on six themes relating to the project that have been highlighted from recent engagements - learning models, capacity and roll assumptions, assembly/performance areas, detailed layouts and models, equalities and delivery & program.

Get in contact to secure place at early afternoon session running between 2-4pm

There will be limited availability for this session with only 50 spaces available on a first come, first served basis. Members of the public are required to email placeprojects@scotborders.gov.uk to secure their place for this event.

Please note that it may not be possible to accommodate anyone who tries to attend this event without noting their interest first via the advertised email address before the events take place.

Further details of the sessions 

Anyone attending the drop-in session running between 4-8pm does not need to inform us of their attendance and can turn up at any time during the stated hours.  We anticipate the demand to be high and may have to manage the numbers in the Theatre at any one time.  

The sessions will take the form of café style discussions in small groups of 8-10 people where SBC officers will present detailed information relating to each theme. As a consequence members of the public should expect to queue if high numbers attend at any one time.

Councillor Leagh Douglas, Executive Member for Education & Lifelong Learning:

“The format and timings for tomorrow’s engagement sessions have been altered to allow as many people as possible to engage with council officers and the design team, as well as being able to view the most up to date plans for the replacement of Pebbles High School.

“We know this project has been an extremely emotive subject locally and we want to ensure this engagement exercise is both informative and accommodating to everyone interested in attending.

“Whilst we welcome the opportunity to meet with concerned members of the public, we are aware of a social media campaign being promoted locally around these events and are concerned about the negativity surrounding this.  I would like to remind anyone attending to remain respectful so that we can have constructive and meaningful sessions.”