Laying foundations for education

Education is gearing up for the decades ahead and schools are being transformed to meet the demands of teaching children who are digital natives.

education1By 2020, 117 schools across the country will have been constructed from scratch or completely refurbished as part of a £1.8 billion Schools for the Future programme.

Among those getting a makeover is Queen Margaret’s Academy in Ayr.

In Cumnock a new campus is being constructed that will bring together two local academies, as well as primary and early years provision.

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The new £47 million Lochside Academy in Aberdeen has just opened its doors to 1350 pupils and construction is underway on Bertha Park High School in Perth, which will receive its first intake in August next year.

The state-of-the-art facilities these schools provide take teaching to a new level.

Follow up many of the vacancies on s1jobs and you could find yourself working in one of the dozens of campuses that have just opened.

Many of these are so-called ‘super schools’, catering for up to 1500 pupils or combining several primaries in one location with shared play and sporting facilities.

But not all of the new facilities that opened in recent months have been delivered by the Scottish Government.

In the village of Strontian on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, a new primary school has been built by the community itself.

When Highland Council suggested, rather than refurbish Strontian Primary, the 35 children who attend the school be taught in portable classrooms, the community was galvanised into action.

Through selling community shares, successfully applying to the Scottish Land Fund, unlocking other funding sources and securing bank loans, they managed to raise the £900,000 needed for the build.

Head teacher Pamela Hill described the 1970s building where the school was previously house as “dated and sad”.

She said: “There wasn’t much space for us. We really needed a school that was a bit more up-to-date, with technology suited for children in the 21st Century, as well as somewhere where there was a bit more space for them.”

One of the best indicators for positive outcomes is how engaged parents are in the education of their children. In Ardnamurchan, parents and the whole community have proved their commitment . . . for teachers there can be no better foundation to build on.

 

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