Edinburgh to build £43m Curriculum for Excellence school

By Chris Marshall
Published on Thursday 19 January 2012 21:12

THE first school to be built around the principles of Scotland’s new education curriculum has been given the go-ahead as part of a £42 million campus project.

The new James Gillespie’s High School in Edinburgh will feature open spaces to encourage collaborative working between different classes and specially-designed “learning gardens”.

Edinburgh city council said the school – which will be built on the site of the present James Gillespie’s High – had been designed to complement the Curriculum for Excellence, the teaching framework introduced in 2010.

The school, which is being part-funded by the Scottish Government, is part of a larger campus development which is expected to include an extension to a nursery and improvements to James Gillespie’s Primary.

Planning approval for the new secondary school comes after consultation with staff, pupils, parents and residents.

The school, which is due to open in 2015, will include a number of open spaces where pupils studying different subjects will be able to take part in cross-curriculum learning.

There will also be covered “learning gardens”, as well as “collaborative research spaces”, presentation areas and an “innovation hub” for teachers and pupils to collaborate and discuss new ideas.

Councillor Marilyne Mac-Laren, Edinburgh’s education leader, said: “I am absolutely thrilled that this exciting project has finally been given the planning go-ahead.

“The new high school will provide a modern and inspiring environment, with a number of pioneering design features that I think will lead the way for contemporary school buildings throughout Scotland.

“We progressively developed the plans based on feedback we received from the community to make sure that the new school reflects the positive characteristics of the surrounding area.”

Headteacher Donald MacDonald added: “I am looking forward to leading our school community through this rebuilding programme and, in a few years, taking ownership of what will be a first-class educational facility that is ideally suited to achieving the aspirations of a Curriculum for Excellence.”

The introduction of the curriculum had to be delayed for a year to make sure teachers and schools were fully ready and its early days saw it plagued by criticisms that it was too “woolly”, with calls for more textbooks and more training for teachers.

Related Articles

• Revealed: The school of the future

  THIS is how school education of the future could look under a controversial teaching programme being introduced to schools next month.

  0 Comments

Comments

There are 8 comments to this article

Order by:

• Newest first
• |
• Oldest first

Page 1 of 1

• 1
• Show all

8

drumminor

Friday, January 20, 2012 at 01:29 PM

Ho ho ho te he te! Learning Gardens! Collaborative spaces! Now the rot which has reduced primary kids to semi literates over the past fifty years is going to be spread to the secondaries! What a load of rubbish! This speaks volumes about the loony left politically correct influences still permeating our education system. Poor kids. I really feel sorry for them. Good they're doing up the primary and about time too. It is one of the worst examples of primary school architecture ever built in Scotland

• Report Unsuitable

7

No Jambos

Friday, January 20, 2012 at 11:02 AM

Open plan mayhem. I bet that is not how schools work in Shanghai where pupils get the best results.

• Report Unsuitable

6

PeterVincent

Friday, January 20, 2012 at 08:30 AM

shug57, Most of the PS school teachers I know like it - but that's what they've been doing already. It appears that it's the more reactionary secondary school teachers who are finding problems with the concepts.

• Report Unsuitable

5

Hector the Lessor

Friday, January 20, 2012 at 07:10 AM

The so called Merchant Company schools in Edinburgh have been successfully educating children of all ages since they were originally established. The Labour government of the 1970s attempted to destroy them rather than accept their so called elitist methods which could have been established in all schools in the country with very little effort. One thing I seem to remember that after going through the classes, (and I may add being belted along the way), I know how to count, I enjoy reading, but admit I had to learn how to use a typewriter , and sports afternoons were a total misery. All in all, one of the best. I believe that they promoted the attitude that schools may not be the happiest days of your life, but what the heck, you are not a moron.

• Report Unsuitable

4

shug57

Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 11:58 PM

All the teachers i know hate the so-called "curriculum for excellence"

• Report Unsuitable

3

PeterVincent

Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 11:05 PM

Taigh na Croiche - This is naff all to do with Gaelic schooling. However, you're obviously feeling oppressed already.

• Report Unsuitable

2

Logie88

Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 10:37 PM

"open spaces to encourage collaborative working between different classes and specially-designed “learning gardens”. What a load of old codswallop. It is ludicrous to design a very expensive building round the latest educational fad. You can be absolutely certain that in ten years time educational fashion will have changed and the building will be obsolete in the same way as the open plan primaries of the seventies rapidly became outdated. It is a scandal that some of the buildings on the Gillespie's campus are being demolished after only twenty five years life and it looks like history is being repeated..

• Report Unsuitable

1

Taigh na Croiche

Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 09:37 PM

Where will the money come from? Imagine if this was a Gaelic school? This page would be full of whingers already.

• Report Unsuitable

Order by:

• Newest first
• |
• Oldest first

Page 1 of 1

• 1
• Show all

Logged in as:

Comment here. Start typing your comment here:

Post comment

Please adhere to our Community guidelines

Your view

Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.