Big summer of change lies ahead for schools across city

SIX city schools will be moving to new premises this August, in what is set to be a busy summer for education in Dundee.

Four primaries, one pre-school and one nursery will reopen at new purpose-built premises across two campuses after this year’s summer holidays.

And as part of the ongoing proposals to invest in school buildings in the city, there are plans to spend £1 million on improvement work at some of the old Victorian and Edwardian schools.

Three schools — Rosebank Primary in Weavers Lane, Our Lady’s RC Primary i n Nelson Street and Frances Wright Preschool Centre in Caird Avenue — will open at the new Coldside Community campus, on the site of the former Alexander Street multis.

Meanwhile, the Lothian Crescent/ Longhaugh Road campus in the North East of the city will welcome Longhaugh Primary and St Francis RC Primary (formerly St Vincents and St Lukes and St Matthews) and Quarryview Nursery — the former Longhaugh Nursery and St Vincent’s Nursery class.

Gregor Murray, convener of the city council’s children and families services committee, said: “This forms part of major investment in school buildings in Dundee.

“Looking ahead, we’ve got a lot of building movements this year.

“We’ve also got an ambitious plan for our older buildings with almost £1m of investment in our Victorian and Edwardian schools.

“All of that is in our current capital plan which has been to committee and sets out the spending over the next few years.

“Our current priorities for the next few years will be the expansion of nursery provision from the current 600 hours per year to 1,140 hours per year.

“That represents a huge shift in spending towards early intervention and getting it right for children early.

“This will require us to consider where the provision needs to be to work for families and children, and although we’ve been to committee a few times, we will be coming back with a more full plan once we know our final funding settlement from the Scottish Government.

“We’ve already i ncluded an extension to Frances Wright Pre-school and are considering a new nursery i n the East End ward, but that’s very much just the tip of the iceberg i n terms of

Main picture: Gregor Murray and Paul Clancy, middle back row, with Blackness Primary School staff and students. Left: Rosebank Primary.