The Scottish Government has announced £230 million of funding for 19 new schools and one of these will be South Queensferry Community High School where a new school should be completed by 2020.
Cabinet Secretary for Education visited the school this morning and made the announcement to replace the school in the Schools for the Future Programme.
Ms Constance said: “Today’s announcement is fantastic news for Edinburgh. The new Queensferry Community High School will be a fantastic, modern building that pupils, teachers and the whole community will enjoy for generations to come.
Councillor Paul Godzik, Convener of the Education, Children and Families Committee, said: “This is great news for Queensferry Community High School and their local community. This funding will allow us to replace the existing school and provide first class facilities that can be used both by the school community during the day and the wider local community outside school hours.
The investment will benefit over 6,500 school pupils across Scotland, the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said today.
The First Minister said: “We are working hard to improve educational standards across the country to make sure that every child in Scotland has the ability to achieve their potential.
“Part of that is making sure that children have the right physical environment to learn in. This ambitious plan will replace older schools across the country with new, modern buildings that will bring benefits to the whole community.
“We had planned to build or refurbish 55 schools across Scotland, these new schools now take the total to 112 – more than double our original target. Since 2007, we have worked with local authorities to rebuild or refurbish 607 schools, resulting in the number of children educated in ‘poor’ or ‘bad’ condition schools falling by 60 per cent.
“This infrastructure investment programme has already generated an estimated 11,000 construction jobs and 230 apprenticeship placements. Now as these further developments begin construction we will see a further boost to the economy right across the country.”
At the October 2014 budget, Finance Secretary John Swinney announced that a further £330 million funding was being made available for the fourth phase Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme. This brought the total investment for the programme between the Scottish Government and local authorities to £1.8 billion.
The £330 million comprised £100 million announced in June 2014 – for the first wave of schools to be supported under phase IV – with the projects to be supported announced in November 2014.
This announcement is for the second wave with £230 million being allocated across Scotland.
Welcoming the announcement Colin Keir MSP for Edinburgh Western said:
“This SNP government is working hard to improve educational standards across the country to make sure that every child in Scotland has the ability to achieve their potential. Part of that is making sure children have the right physical environment to learn in.
“Today’s announcement is fantastic news for Queensferry. The new Queensferry High School will be a fantastic, modern building that pupils, teachers and the whole community will enjoy for generations to come.
“Since 2007, the SNP in government have worked with local authorities to rebuild or refurbish 607 schools, resulting in the number of children educated in ‘poor’ or ‘bad’ condition schools falling by 60 per cent.
“In addition to the educational benefits of the new school, it will also provide a boost to the local economy, creating many construction jobs and apprenticeship opportunities.”
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