Progress on new £5m school project
Facility for students with additional support needs
Proposals for a new ASN school for the Stirling area are taking shape.
Earlier this year Stirling councillors set the ball rolling on creating a new £5million secondary school for young people with additional support needs.
The facility - earmarked for a site next to Bannockburn High School - is part of a wider £10million investment, which will also see two new ASN facilities created within Stirling’s rural areas.
While concept design is ongoing for the rural facilities, a target of summer 2023 was set for completion of the Bannockburn provision, through a modular build.
The facilities are being built due to insufficient capacity in the current education estate to support the growing number of secondary aged pupils with ASN who require access to specialist provision.
A review found that additional capacity would be needed in the city centre for 48 pupils over the short to medium term.
A full planning application has now been lodged with the council’s planners for the classroom facility, be located on the front lawn of Bannockburn High’s grounds.
In documents submitted with the application, agents said there had been extensive work on inclusive design and engagement with end-users.
They added: “The creation of a shared civic spaces allows for greater visual interaction to Bannockburn High School. It is an overall building form manipulates the scale into a series of smaller elements more appropriate to an environment for young people.
“The main entrance faces the existing Bannockburn High School, enjoying a visibly prominent location within the main elevation. The entrance provides direct, yet controlled access to a waiting area which has a connected meeting space that can be shared with the high school to further promote a connected campus philosophy.
“The school arrangement has admin, therapy, nurture and WCS within the main central block facing the street, while the two teaching wings either side provides the core education spaces, leading to further outdoor educational spaces.
“The front block of the school contains the main school office and associated administration and management rooms are located adjacent to the entrance space. This layout, together with the senior management team’s office, provides good passive supervision in this area. Further supporting rooms are provided in the heart of the plan adjacent to the administration area, animated by glazed partitions where appropriate.
“The west side of the front block contains the gym, games hall, music and drama, with directly adjacent servicing arrangements as required, the arrangement allows the gym and games hall to combine and the drama classroom to become a stage for performances.
“The two teaching clusters of the school incorporates the primary and secondary education for pupils. Each area is split into clusters to ensure the scale of the building is not overwhelming for pupils. The classroom clusters share a quiet/nurture room between two classrooms and a central activity space between the four classrooms promotes cross learning and collaboration within each learning environment. Each cluster either has WCS located directly from the classroom area or within the activity space.
“In addition to the standard classrooms there’s a further general-purpose classroom which can be utilised for STEM or dining/social activities, lifeskills classrooms to prepare for independent living and sensory / nurture spaces to provide a cohesive educational experience.
“The modular build will minimise the disruption on site for the high school and for nearby neighbours by reducing the time required on site, utilising off-site construction to form the majority of the build which improves site safety for contractors and members of the public. There will also be a reduction in site waste and noise production compared to standard construction activity.”
They said a net increase of 11 parking spaces plus 27 spare capacity in the current east car park (38 total) would accommodate the maximum number of staff of 36. The existing east and west car parks which serve Bannockburn High would be reconfigured and a pedestrian area and 30 metre long dedicated drop-off / pick-up zone created close to the ASN entrance.
Students are said to be transported to and from ASN provisions typically by a combination of minibus (approximately 50 per cent) or by car (taxi or parent).