Education bosses inspect new school
£19m Riverbrae facility will improve lives of pupils
A progress report on a new £ 19 million state- of- the- art school for youngsters with additional needs has confirmed it will open this summer.
Riverbrae School will be ready for the start of the next academic year after delays pushed completion back.
Education chiefs have toured the Linwood centre, which will replace ageing sites in the town and Paisley.
Councillor Jacqueline Henry, convener of Renfrewshire Council’s education policy board, vowed that the first lessons will be held in August.
She told the Paisley Daily Express: “There’s still a bit of work to complete, including the fitting out of the classrooms.
“You can clearly see the potential in the facilities, backed by the knowledge and commitment of the staff that will maximise the potential of all the young people that will learn here.”
Headmistress Catherine Gilius gave a tour of the new facilities and told how they will help improve the lives of hundreds of pupils.
The school will bring together nursery, primary and secondary education for children for the first time under one roof.
The purpose-built facility will offer improved accessibility for those with physical or sensory difficulties, along with better access to sports facilities and IT equipment.
Councillor Maureen Sharkey, deputy education convener, believes the improved environment will help youngsters to excel at their studies.
She said: “It was very encouraging to see the final phase of this an ambitious and innovative project which will make a lasting difference to the lives of the young people and their parents.
“This council has prioritised investing in education and boosting opportunity for all and Riverbrae is an outstanding example of that.”
The school was due to open for the start of term, but was delayed by a whole year.
Critics raised concerns the project would run over budget and demanded clarification on funding.
At a summit last June, former SNP leader Brian Lawson blasted the timeframe change as “quite unbelievable”.
He said: “How on earth can Labour’s flagship school project, which was supposed to be completed in 72 weeks, now take at least 124 weeks?
“One obvious one is who is paying for this delay? Is it the council or the contractors, or both?
“It seems that additional specialist staff, including architects, have already had to be taken on to try to rescue the project.”
Councillor Mike Holmes, depute leader of Renfrewshire Council, insisted the postponement would not push construction over budget.
He said: “We have been open with the school community over the timescales for the new facility.
“That approach has included holding a public meeting for parents and carers to keep them informed about the situation and we will continue to update them.
“Councillor Lawson knows very well that any large scale capital investment project has a contingency element built into its funding to deal with risk issues – in this case, a combination of design, construction and weather- related issues.
“At present, the costs associated with those issues are contained in the contingency planning, and are covered by the original funding.”
Riverbrae School replaces nearby Clippens and Paisley’s Kersland Schools and Hollybush Pre-5 Centre.
It has been jointly funded by Renfrewshire Council, which stumped up £ 10.1m for the project, while the Scottish Futures Trust provided £8.7million.