News / Government funding for new high school
SCOTTISH education secretary Mike Russell has confirmed that Shetland Islands Council will get help to fund the building of a new Anderson High School at Lower Staney Hill in Lerwick.
The cash will come under the Scotland Schools for the Future programme, and is part of a funding package for 30 new schools across the country.
It is still unclear exactly how much funding is going to be made available, but the general understanding is that the government will pay as much as two-thirds of the £30 million needed for a 1,000 pupil school, as well as providing further funding for additional support needs provision and new halls of residence.
The balance of between £10 and £12 million has already been earmarked for 2016 in the council’s medium-term financial plan, approved by councillors last week.
The news means a major breakthrough in the long-running saga of replacing the existing Anderson High School, which begins celebrations for its 150th anniversary this weekend.
Shetland Islands Council only applied for this funding in June this year after an initial “breakthrough” was brokered in November 2011 by then chair of the Education and Families Committee, former councillor Betty Fullerton.
On Wednesday, current chair of the Education and Families Committee Vaila Wishart was jubilant, saying that everybody in the new administration was determined to get on with the job of building a new school, which, she added, was not just for Lerwick but for “the whole of Shetland”.
“As far as I can see, building a school during the next four years is a realistic timetable,” she said. “It is time to stop faffing about and get on with it.”
Ms Wishart’s sentiments were shared by council convener Malcolm Bell who insisted that the council was not going to build “a palace” but a “functional and fit-for-purpose building”, along the lines of the brand new Nicolson Institute, in Stornoway.
The council’s head of Children’s Services, Helen Budge, said she and finance boss James Gray were invited to a meeting with the Scottish Futures Trust in Aberdeen next month, to hammer out the details of the deal.
She said the new school would be designed and constructed under the auspices of Hub North Scotland, a government-initiated consortium to deliver public projects.
“Hub North Scotland will assist us in how we progress through the process,” she said. “They have been continuing to have dialogue with our local construction industry, and here is an opportunity to become part of that project. There will be opportunities, I am sure.
“We know that there have been a number of other schools being built across Scotland, and we are willing to look at some of those because we want this school progressing as soon as possible.
“It has been spoken about for a long time, and here is an opportunity to take it forward.”
Both Mrs Budge and Ms Wishart were adamant that Wednesday’s announcement would not influence the ongoing Blueprint for Education consultation process which could mean the closure of four junior high schools and five primary schools between 2014 and 2016.
Mrs Budge said: “For us, it will mean that we are continuing with the Blueprint process. As part of year three of our Blueprint programme we said that we were looking at closing the junior highs in Sandwick and Whalsay, and would move pupils into a new Anderson High in August 2016.
“Today’s announcement by the cabinet secretary would achieve that.”
The cabinet secretary said: “We have met every local authority’s request for priority builds and added an extra 12 schools to the programme because of the Scottish Futures Trust’s vigorous commitment to value for money.
“More schools are being built, and faster, but for the same level of investment as originally planned.”
Wednesday’s news was welcomed by local MSP Tavish Scott and Highlands and Islands List MSP Jean Urquhart.
“As a parent who was told my children would see a new school and have now left secondary education, I am very pleased that a new generation of young Shetlanders will benefit from a new building,” Mr Scott said.
Ms Urquhart said: “It’s great to see schools in sore need of new facilities being given the funding they need to begin construction as soon as they can.
“This investment in the future of our children will pay off in the short term, the medium term and the long term for both the pupils and the wider community.”
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