Portobello High School, Edinburgh analysis


Scottish schools get new £1bn building boost


The Scottish Government has committed to investing £1bn in rebuilding and refurbishing schools after the current school building programme ends in 2021. Andrew Pring examines the new deal and the philosophy of Peter Reekie, the man charged with delivering it


and Cabinet Secretary for Education John Swinney - means an estimated 50,000 pupils will see their schools renewed or refurbished. It comes off the back of the current


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Schools for the Future Programme, which when it concludes in March 2020 will have delivered 117 new school projects benefitting 60,000 pupils since it began in 2009. The new funding will deliver digitally


enabled, low-carbon schools and campuses, which will be developed in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities’ (COSLA) and councils, with decisions on which schools will benefit focused on those in the poorest condition. At the time of the announcement,


Swinney commented: “Every pupil should have the best support throughout their education, which includes access to high- quality, up-to-date facilities that parents, staff and children can be proud of. “This further £1Bn investment will build


on the progress already made by the existing Schools for the Future Programme and drive further improvements in the learning estate from 2021. We will keep up the momentum of improvements in education facilities throughout Scotland.” COSLA Children and Young People


Spokesperson Councillor Stephen McCabe welcomed the news: “I am pleased that this investment will be developed in partnership with COSLA. It is vitally important that we get this right and we look forward to working with the Scottish Government to ensure that we do.” The programme will be driven by the


Scottish Futures Trust (STF), which works with local authorities across Scotland to achieve the very best value from their investment in new schools.


10 educationdab.co.uk


HE new billion-pound phase of investment – announced at the end of last year by Deputy First Minister


STF Chief Executive Peter Reekie says


the investment is “fantastic news”, and identifies three broad objectives for the programme: • Delivering digitally-enabled learning places with functional wifi.


• Designing spaces around how students want to learn, and making them colourful and vibrant “so that young people want to be there”.


• Delivering more outdoor learning. On the digital thrust, he says: “It’s part


of the move from desks and chairs to squashy spaces and group working environments - we at SFT are absolutely clear that we must allow space standards and budgets to incorporate these spaces.” Thanks to the STF’s prompting, designs


of secondary schools have moved from an E shape to a block and Reekie wants that emphasis to continue. “I recognise the engineering challenge associated with that, but it has been a great enabler of different spaces and a change in which I hope SFT has played a role co-ordinating and sharing learning between local authorities and across the design community.” As to outdoor learning, Reekie says


“SFT has been working with colleagues on driving forward approaches to providing,


Anderson High School, Lerwick, the Shetlands


registering and using outdoor space in early years settings, and I’d say there is now a clear momentum in that sector, and I think this needs to continue through the stages of learning. “If we are not providing outdoor learning


settings in buildings now, the three and four-year olds of today who are growing up with outdoor learning will be even more disappointed in 2030 when a not- very-old school at that time, doesn’t support their expectation for outdoor learning to be a part of their lives.” At the heart of the Scottish school


expansion programme is a new community dimension, explains Reekie. “A school used to be a building in which primary or secondary aged children were taught from 9am until 3:30pm on weekdays during term time. Today, many school buildings are now about much more than that – and I would argue that these very significant investments of public funds need to work harder still at their job of contributing to inclusive economic growth and sustainable communities: by bringing communities in – to use the facilities of the buildings both


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