The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
A tantalising glimpse inside the new Bertha Park School.
Work on Bertha Park is progressing well
Work on Perth’s newest high school is ahead of schedule. Bertha Park’s external structure is nearing completion, with internal building work now under way.
The project began in December 2017 and is set to be ready for use by pupils in August 2019.
It is anticipated around 200 jobs will be created following the build. The first two teaching staff were hired in June and will liaise with first year pupils at Perth Grammar before they join Bertha Park next August.
Part of the national Schools for the Future programme to improve education in Scotland, it is the first secondary to be built in Perth and Kinross since 1972.
Bertha Park High School has received £19.6 million of funding from the Scottish Government and was the 100th new school in the £1.8 billion programme.
The project followed a review of the school estate which identified a new Perth secondary school as a priority.
The programme, which launched in 2009, aims to bring about the construction or refurbishment of 116 schools in Scotland by March 2020.
Head teacher Stuart Clyde said: “Things are going really well. We have already been out for consultation in the community with young people and their parents about our values and vision for the school.”
Andy Cook, contracts and project manager with Perth and Kinross Council, said: “The project is going very well. To date, the programme is comfortably ahead of where it should be.
“We are now on to the internal elements.”
The new secondary catchment area will include pupils from Bertha Park, Almond Valley and Perth West, as well as Auchtergaven, Logiealmond, Methven, Pitcairn, Ruthvenfield, Oudenarde, Forgandenny, Forteviot and Dunbarney.
It is part of a £1 billion development at Bertha Park, which will see 3,000 homes built over 30 years. The project will also create around 450 building jobs.
In April the first brick was laid on the development, which will also host shops, restaurants, medical services and leisure and community facilities on the site off the Inveralmond roundabout.