Scotland’s only 21st Century school ready.

Wraps come off Scotland’s first new secondary in more than 20 years

Scotland’s only 21st Century school is ready for its launch.

Head teacher Stuart Clyde has taken the wraps off Bertha Park High, the country’s first new secondary school in more than 20 years.

Built as part of a sprawling new community on the northern edge of Perth, the £32.5 million school will welcome its first wave of more than 200 pupils next week.

Youngsters from homes on the western side of the A9 will be treated to the latest in learning experiences. Each child will get their own iPad for use in lessons, while all mobile phones are locked away to encourage a “social media detox”.

Mr Clyde revealed more surprises when he welcomed visitors for a tour yesterday: Bertha Park has no school bell or dedicated staff room.

He said the team wanted to move away from the traditional “them and us” environment.

“What other walk of life would have a space just for management?” he said.

“We want to prepare pupils for the world outside of school, and that sort of staff room doesn’t exist anywhere else.”

Mr Clyde added: “We also thought about the school bell, something most of us will take for granted. Where else, outside of school, do people have to move about to the sound of a bell ringing? It just seems very, very outdated and we decided to get rid of it.”

All decisions were made following years of consultation with parents and the wider community.

Mr Clyde, who was previously head at the Community School of Auchterarder, said: “It was very liberating to be able to create a brand new school, and not a replacement building.

“There was nobody to tell us ‘you can’t do things like that here’, because there was no ‘here’ before. We started with a blank canvas, so we could really challenge the norm.

“It has been a real once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

At the heart of the 1,100-capacity school is a huge auditorium, with space for performances, audio-visual presentations and a dance studio.

It also boasts a vast science “super lab”, as well as three large gym halls and synthetic football pitches outside.

Throughout the building are large, colourful street-art style graphics.

Perth and Kinross Council’s lifelong learning convener Caroline Shiers said: “Its very much state-of-the art construction throughout and it really does have that wow factor that we were looking for.”

She said the school roll will grow with a new wave of S1 pupils added each year.

The school, built by Robertson Construction, has also teamed up with US firm Microsoft to become a centre of excellence for digital technology.

We started with a blank canvas, so we could really challenge the norm. It has been a real oncein-a-lifetime opportunity. STUART CLYDE