Schools in west and southwest of the city to be replaced or refurbished

The City of Edinburgh Council has announced plans to build two new schools in the south west of the city.

 

The proposed South West Edinburgh High School would replace Currie High School and Wester Hailes Education Centre. In addition there would be a West Edinburgh High School.

Balerno High School would be refurbished and expanded and a new primary school, Maybury Primary School, would be built.

[tweet_box design=”default”]In all 13 primary schools and 7 secondary schools in the west and south west of the city would be affected by Edinburgh Council’s plans.[/tweet_box]

These include the catchment areas of

• Balerno High
• Craigmount High
• Currie High
• Forrester High
• The Royal High
• Tynecastle High
• Wester Hailes Education Centre (WHEC)

Under the proposals which are now under consultation these changes are put forward:

Currie Primary School pupils would go to Balerno High

Nether Currie Primary School pupils would go to South West High

Juniper Green Primary School pupils would go to South West High

Sighthill Primary School pupils would go to Forrester High

Canal View Primary School pupils would go to South West High

Clovenstone Primary pupils would go to South West High

Hillwood Primary School pupils would go to West Edinburgh High

Roseburn Primary School pupils would go to Tynecastle High

Ratho Primary School pupils would go to West Edinburgh High

There are other proposals for the new housing in the area and some catchment areas will be realigned.

 

Cllr Ian Perry, Convener of Education, Children and Families at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “With Edinburgh being such a thriving and successful city, more and more people are coming to live here so we need to build the extra homes. This will obviously have a big impact on our schools with extra pupils which they will struggle to cope with.

“We need to ensure we can provide places for these additional children and that is why we are reviewing school provision across the whole city. This strategic approach means Edinburgh will be well-placed to meet the future challenges our schools face.

“So, we have to get this right to ensure what we do now will serve our school communities for the next 30 to 40 years as these additional children come through our education system. It’s not about looking at just the next few years but planning ahead for future generations.”

A review will cover all schools in Edinburgh but will focus first on the south and west where the largest increase in the school roll is expected.

In this area schools including Currie High School, Balerno High School and Wester Hailes Education Centre need some major improvement works or replacement.

In west Edinburgh 4,000 new homes are proposed and in the south west there are plans to build 700 new homes. This could mean an extra 1300 primary and secondary pupils in west Edinburgh and over 200 new pupils in the south west area.

Cllr Alison Dickie, Vice Convener, of Education, Children and Families, at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “The aim of publishing these proposals is to gauge the views of parents and their school communities. It’s so important we hear their voices – especially if they have any alternative proposals we could consider.

“The consultation over the coming months is an integral part of the review process however I must stress these proposals cannot be implemented without a statutory consultation process which would be the next step.

“It’s important to remember that no decisions have been made so I would urge anyone who has views on the plans to feed back their comments so it can help shape any future statutory consultation.”

The Council will be holding events between 9 January 2018 and 9 February 2018 at all the affected schools. These events will be organised through the Parent Councils and will allow invited focus groups to discuss the proposals with Council officers.

In March 2018, the Education, Children and Families Committee will be provided with an update on the discussions that have taken place and recommendations about what should happen next.

Full details of the proposals can be found on the Council website.

The former catchment areas are here :

 

And the proposed new catchment areas are shown here :