Schools are up to scratch

South Lanarkshire Council has completed its ambitious £1.2bn Schools Modernisation Programme giving 46,000 children the best possible learning environment.

Starting in 2004, Europe’s biggest school building programme set out to replace or improve every school in South Lanarkshire and has now successfully delivered 160 educational establishments for future generations.

This included:

•124 primary schools – including 62 with

nursery classes and 16 ASN bases

•17 secondary schools

•12 nursery centres

•4 ASN primary schools

•3 ASN secondary schools

•15 community rooms or wings within the primary school builds.

A report to the council’s education committee highlighted that the £866m primary school modernisation programme has now been completed meaning that every school day 46,000 children and young people in South Lanarkshire are being taught in a modern, innovative and high quality setting.

At the height of the programme the council was completing up to nine schools and nurseries a year.

Combined with the secondary school modernisation programme a total of £1.2bn has been invested in modernising the council’s schools.

Leader of South Lanarkshire Council, Councillor John Ross, said:“For South Lanarkshire Council to set out on this £866 million modernisation programme required vision, commitment and consensus and over the last 15 years that has consistently been delivered.

“I am proud that as elected members councillors have been able to set aside political differences and work together to support the dedicated schools modernisation team’s hard work together with their colleagues in housing and technical resources to keep delivering and keep improving.

Executive director of education resources, Tony McDaid, said:“The best possible education for the children of South Lanarkshire requires the best possible learning environment and I am confident that is what we now have.

“Although the modernisation programme is officially at an end the work does not stop, we will continue to monitor and invest in our school estate to maintain the highest standards of school environment for pupils and staff.”

The modernisation programme has delivered sustainable schools and nurseries with reduced CO 2 emissions, reduced energy consumption, reduced water consumption, reduced heat loss and environmentally sensitive construction techniques that included recycled materials.

The investment has included thoughtfully designed outdoor spaces with traditional playgrounds now accompanied by MUGA games pitches, outdoor classrooms, landscape features and a host of other touches to suit individual schools and environments.

Within the school buildings every school and nursery has been individually designed to ensure that from the largest urban secondary to the smallest rural primary each and every establishment is tailored to the needs of the community it serves.

Welcoming a report on the schools modernisation programme being completed members of the council’s education committee paid tribute to former council leader Eddie McAvoy for his role in driving the project forward and praised the work of all those involved in delivering the programme.

The final educational establishment to be completed was the Early Learning Unit in Hamilton, a specialist nursery catering for mainstream and ASN children.