Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Changes ahead for support needs school
Primary pupils to leave Mavisbank for new term
The existing Mavisbank School in Airdrie is to become secondaryonly, with primary-aged children transferring to Drumpark Primary in Coatbridge from August.
The move is part of a review of additional support needs provision in North Lanarkshire, with the school catering for youngsters with complex support and significant medical needs.
These new arrangements were unanimously agreed by members of the council’s education committee last week following a public consultation process carried out during February and March.
The same £2.2 million review programme also includes the creation of the new We Aspire college from the existing Fallside, Pentland and Portland schools, which cater for pupils with additional social, emotional and behavioural needs.
Fallside will relocate from Viewpark to Coltness High, while primary and secondary Pentland and Portland will move within Coatbridge to a reconfigured Townhead community centre and Skills Academy in the same local campus.
Education executive director Derek Brown said: “This is the first stage of implementing major changes to additional needs provision in North Lanarkshire,
“It will bring benefits to some of the most vulnerable young people in our communities for many years to come.”
Mavisbank currently has 25 pupils aged between five and 18, who come from all over North Lanarkshire, at its Mitchell Street building.
Councillors were told that the benefits of converting it to a specialist secondary school would include the “enhanced vocational education and life skills development; pathways, packages and partnerships better aligned to age and stage; increased space and opportunities; [and] potential to experience a real transition to separate secondary”.
They had also previously been told ahead of the consultation: “This proposal is linked to the priority to repatriate young people to North Lanarkshire provision from out-of-authority care.
“It will be important to build bespoke packages of care and support, working together to remove barriers to participation and learning [and] there will be some modification of facilities required within the Drumpark/ Greenhill site to enable this.”
Council officials listed a range of benefits from each of the five moves including improved facilities and opportunities for young people; these were recognised by Education Scotland inspectors, who also made a series of recommendations in respect of each school.
They instructed North Lanarkshire to give further information on planned adaptations to the existing Mavisbank and give “further considerations that the redeveloped mezzanine at Drumpark is accessible, has capacity and is suitable for all children”, as well as looking at improved accessibility for pupils moving around the building.
With the Coatbridge school sharing a campus with Greenhill Primary, the council must also now “consider concern from across the three schools that there is potential for increased traffic at key points of the day.
“There is also to be “careful planning to ensure that children avoid any unnecessary transitions”.
A traffic assessment will now be carried out, while the report for councillors added: “The commitment to a bespoke transition for each child is enshrined within the plan and is a firm commitment for all involved in the new arrangements.”
Clydeview’s relocation also involves considering traffic issues and access to facilities, as well as “the impact on children being part of a much larger, busier campus” with a request to “involve the children at Clydeview in discussions and decisions”.
Recommendations for Pentland and Portland are that they should retain their identities, manage transitions and involve staff in designing and planning the learning and teaching spaces “as currently they are unclear how these will work”.
The Fallside community is to receive “further information for staff about the accommodation, curriculum, staffing, resources and transitional arrangements for their children”, and council officials should “work with young people to address concerns about the move to Coltness High as some of them do not cope well with loud, busy or crowded spaces”.
North Lanarkshire Council say the plans, whose costs are to be met from its community investment fund, will also create up to 30 new modern apprenticeship posts.
A statement said: “The council will work towards implementing the new arrangements from August 2021.
“Importantly, time will be taken throughout session 20212022 to manage transitions in a sensitive, family-centred way.
“The proposals outline a clear plan for the future of the additional support needs estate, which creates cluster hubs and specialist provision around the campus model of the future.”