Plans laid out for new primary building

The official planning process for a new primary school in North Muirton, Perth, has begun.

The existing primary school at Uist Place is to be demolished and replaced with a two-storey building big enough for its existing school roll, as well as that of Balhousie Primary, which is to close.

Two drop-in information sessions were held at the schools in March, allowing parents, pupils and staff to inspect early drawings of what the £14 million project could look like.

Early plans are for the nursery to be razed and the new school, to open in August 2022, to be built by contractors Robertson.

Councillors gave the go-ahead for Edinburgh architects Architype to begin work on finalised plans at the virtual planning and development management committee meeting on Wednesday.

More consultations will be held about the school, which will bring together up to 484 pupils across 16 classrooms.

While all councillors backed the project, SNP member Tom Gray said he would like the new school to be called something other than North Muirton Primary to reflect the heritage of both schools.

The regeneration project comes after North Muirton Primary recently had its performancelabelled “weak”by Education Scotland inspectors.

North Muirton currently has 10 mainstream and three specialist classes and around half of the school’s 238 pupils are not achieving the expected grades in maths and English. The reporter said: “Attainment in literacy and English and numeracy and mathematics is weak. Across the school, fewer than half of children are making appropriate progress in writing.”

Education Scotland will make a follow-up visit to North Muirton Primary School within 12 months to assess progress.

The existing North Muirton Primary School building.