The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Church steps in to help out local nursery
Acity church has partnered with Highland Council to provide muchneeded nursery space for neighbouring pupils.
The council agreed a 25 year lease with Crown Church of Scotland to provide extra nursery classrooms.
Without the partnership, the Crown Primary might have had to sacrifice playground space to expand the nursery.
The church is located next door to the school and has agreed to allow the school to use its lower hall to house the extra pupils.
In return, the council will help the church install a new lift and start an asbestos removal programme.
Morrison Construction is to begin work on August 9 to convert the hall into classroom space. It will have capacity for 60 three and four-year-olds in two new classrooms, with contractors due to finish the project in December.
The partnership coincides with the conclusion of a £130,000 refurbishment at the church, allowing greater storage and a new kitchen and bathroom facilities in the upper hall.
The council agreed to install a lift to the upper hall and help with an asbestos removal scheme as part of the deal.
Provost of Inverness Helen Carmichael said: “This is a great example of partnership working.
“We did not want pupils at Crown to lose out on playground space to accommodate the expansion of the nursery classrooms and are delighted that the congregation of Crown Church helped us find a solution.”
The nursery pupils will get into the new classrooms using an entrance on the school campus that adjoins the church.
Acting head teacher at Crown Primary Bev Douglas called the partnership a positive solution to the school’s growing nursery roll.
“We value our community partnership with the church and this exciting project will enable us to develop our partnership work further in many ways,” she said.
Crown Church recently set up a working group to look into modernising the church building and strengthening bonds with the community.
Its minister Douglas Robertson said that the new link to the school is a good sign that there are opportunities for his congregation to serve their community.
Welcoming students from the primary school – which was owned by the church back in the 19th Century – will be a bit like “turning back the clock,” he said.
“In working with our neighbours at the school, we have the chance to strengthen our bonds with our community and send a very clear message that our church is not afraid of change but is committed to outreach with a very clear sense of Christian purpose,” added the minister.