New Peterhead Community Campus awarded government funding
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THE new Peterhead Community Campus will be one of the first projects to benefit from a nationwide £1 billion educational investment programme.
Around £71 million has already been set aside in Aberdeenshire Council's capital plan for the new campus, which will include a 1400-capacity secondary school and a 600-capacity primary.
But now the Scottish Government is set to contribute between £220 million and £275 million to replace 26 schools across Scotland.
A further phase of investment is to be announced within 12 months, but it has been confirmed the new Peterhead Community Campus will replace Peterhead Academy, Dales Park Primary, Meethill Primary and the Anna Ritchie School.
The news comes after figures revealed the proportion of schools in a good or satisfactory condition across Scotland has increased from 61.1 per cent in April 2007 to 88.3 per cent in April 2019.
The School Estates Statistics 2019 report also showed that the proportion of pupils educated in these good or satisfactory condition schools has hit a record of 89.6 per cent, up from 60.8 per cent in 2007.
Aberdeenshire scored well in this year’s statistics, with noted exceptions at two primary schools at Dunottar and Cults, where over capacity is an issue.
Only one school building was considered to be in a poor (C) condition, New Deer, where the school roll current sits at around 55 per cent capacity.
A spokesperson for Aberdeenshire Council said: "New Deer School is rated B for suitability, meaning that the space and environment inside supports service delivery and is a suitable place to deliver education.
"While a C rating for the building's condition is not ideal, officers are working on a planned programme of maintenance which will improve the school's overall condition.
"Toilets have been upgraded at the school, improvements are being made to the nursery space and upgrading the kitchen is in the pipeline.
"We look forward to the building being reassessed in the coming months and we are aiming for this to result in a B rating for condition."
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Education Secretary John Swinney and Councillor Gail Macgregor, a spokeswoman for resources for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, launched the strategy alongside colleagues from Aberdeenshire Council at Peterhead Academy.
The First Minister said: “This additional £1 billion investment will benefit around 50,000 pupils across Scotland, with the first phase set to upgrade and modernise schools across 11 of our local authority areas.
"This investment builds on the progress that we have made over the last 10 years.
"The national statistics published today reveal that, even before today's announcement, Scotland's school estate has never been in better condition, with a record percentage in good or satisfactory condition.
"That is a result of sustained investment and we will now build on that. Modern, state-of-the-art buildings can make a real difference to the lives of pupils, teachers and parents, as well as the wider communities they serve.
"This investment continues our efforts to improve the condition of our entire learning estate, from early years through to schools and colleges."
On the funding, Mr Swinney said: "Creating and maintaining high quality, fit-for-purpose educational facilities demonstrates to pupils, teachers, staff and the community how valuable learning is.
"The progress made through Scotland's Schools for the Future has had a significant impact on the condition of schools across the country – almost 90 per cent of pupils are learning in schools in good or satisfactory condition."
Councillor Gillian Owen, chairwoman of Aberdeenshire's education and children's services committee, said: "We are absolutely delighted to welcome this commitment from the Scottish Government, to complement our ambitions for a new campus in Peterhead.
"We have aspirations to create a modern and community-focused campus which will be a boost for the area.
"Through this unique project, we hope to deliver a programme of work which meets the short, medium and long-term needs and aspirations of Peterhead and the surrounding communities.
"This commitment will better enable us to deliver crucial, impressive new school facilities at the same time as retaining and redeveloping many community facilities within the town centre."
Fellow councillor Norman Smith, chairman of the Buchan area committee, told the Advertiser: "A new community campus has been an aspiration for a number of years, and it is brilliant to see that it will benefit from this additional investment from the Scottish Government."
