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Standard of Forres school buildings to be improved as part of Moray Council's vision for better education


By Garry McCartney

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Forres Academy will see improvements to its heating, water supply and drainage.
Forres Academy will see improvements to its heating, water supply and drainage.

IMPROVEMENTS to local schools are due to start in the near future.

Moray Councillor Aaron McLean (Forres, SNP) has confirmed that works are planned at Forres Academy, Applegrove, Anderson’s and Pilmuir Primaries as part of the local authority’s £300 million vision for schools over the next 20 years.

He said: “ There will be improvements to the drainage in the buildings at Applegrove, Anderson’s and Forres Academy. Work in Applegrove will be under way in the new year. Pilmuir also has some planned improvement work on its roof and the academy also has some works on its heating and hot water supply.”

Moray Council’s long-term strategy for the learning estate for Moray commits to making all learning premises a minimum B standard for condition and suitability, recognising that the quality of the learning environment can impact on learning and attainment.

Currently 25 primary and six secondary schools in the region fall below the required standard, meaning more than 50 per cent of pupils in Moray are learning in below-standard premises.

Under the investment-driven strategy, bespoke projects developed to meet the needs of individual areas in Moray could see new schools built, catchment areas rezoned and the integration of schools with other public services to provide community hubs.

Projects will mirror national aspirations outlined in Scotland’s Learning Estate Strategy, in a bid to secure Scottish Government investment.

The initial focus is likely to be on Forres, Elgin and Buckie, where there is most need to create more capacity because of increasing school rolls.

Other priority areas will be those with schools with serious maintenance issues.

Cllr McLean said: “There are no new schools for Forres planned at this current time.

“The learning estate strategy will inform and advise the council on any improvement and replacement works planned in the future. However, the last time school estate condition was reported to the council it showed that Forres Academy had the highest cost to make the improvements to get it up to a B standard. This should put it very high on the list to be next to get a replacement building.”

He added: “Longer term, there have also been plans to build a new primary school, either in the west or east of the town, but that will depend on houses being built etc. Developer obligations for education will be taken throughout this time.

“We did an extensive rezoning exercise a couple of years ago in the Forres ASG, the first in over 20 years, so I don’t expect there to be any major changes happening soon.”

Cllr McLean said that the current model favoured by the Scottish Government shows that integrating services into one building would be a preferred option for new builds.

He said: “This puts them at the heart of the community and allows them to be used all day, all year round. In other authorities, council offices share space in schools, leisure and library services with partners such as Police Scotland and the NHS. I would expect something similar to happen in Moray when the next new build is confirmed.”

Fellow local councillor, George Alexander, believes Moray’s falling education standards have been greatly affected by more factors thank underfunding from national governments.

He said: “Moray does not get a fair deal when it comes to funding. However, it has been unable to afford to maintain its school estate to a satisfactory condition for nearly quarter of a century because, repeatedly over the years, councillors have refused to make tough decisions to rationalise the estate and replace too many ancient buildings with modern ones on more appropriate sites.”

The new long-term approach to the learning estate in Moray has been approved by councillors.



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