Exclusive:How open plan 'super schools' would be axed in Scotland due to additional support needs concerns

The Scottish Government could tell councils to stop building open plan “super schools” amid concerns they are not suitable for many children with additional support needs.

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth has ordered officials to “immediately” review evidence and consult partners as part of a ten-step plan to reconsider the way schools are designed.

New approaches for school building projects could be trialled in projects from next year, and changes could also be made to regulations or statutory guidance for councils.

The move comes after MSPs were told existing school building designs, including recently built facilities, were acting as a barrier to learning, particularly for neurodivergent pupils who have autism or ADHD.

Schools and their staff are under intense pressure as a result of a surge in the number of pupils with additional support needs (ASN), up from from 36,544 in 2007 to 259,036 last year, and there are concerns the “physical environment” is adding to the strain.

Ms Gilruth told Holyrood’s education committee in March that she believed there were “some schools in Scotland that are too big”, while linking the trend of larger schools to “challenges associated with behaviour, attainment”.

She specifically named several schools in Fife, including Bell Baxter High School in Cupar, Madras College at St Andrews, Levenmouth Academy, and the newly-built Dunfermline Learning Campus, which is to accommodate Fife College’s Dunfermline campus, St Columba’s RC High School, and Woodmill High School.

Her comments came just a few weeks after the MSPs on the same committee heard concerns about the design of schools from representatives of various bodies who work with ASN pupils.

They said they were seeing “more people struggling with open-plan formats”, and the “trend towards the ‘super-schools’ we now see across Scotland creates an environment that conflicts with sensory differences experienced by autistic people”. Examples included the noise generated by having classrooms with no doors, or how a distressed pupil who decides to run away can end up running through the whole school because of open-plan designs, and even out of buildings and onto roads.

One witness also described how glass panels on doors impact the ability of a young person with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to focus if there is activity in the corridor. Experts highlighted the need for “breakout rooms” for ASN pupils to “de-stress”.

Following the testimony, the MSPs on the committee said they were “disappointed to hear in evidence that many recently-built schools have been designed in a way that is not accessible to all”, and that “current open plan designs can act as a barrier to learning for pupils with ASN”.

They recommended the Scottish Government and the Scottish Futures Trust reassess the support and advice provided to local authorities to ensure “schools are designed as accessible and welcoming environments for all”.

The committee also called for “effective and relatively inexpensive adaptations” on existing school buildings to help ASN youngsters.

Ms Gilruth has now accepted the recommendations and said officials will start work on a response plan “immediately”, to conclude by end of this year.

“I acknowledge the committee’s concerns regarding the physical school environment and take the issue of ensuring that the school estate is fit for purpose for pupils with additional support needs (ASN) very seriously,” she said.

Suzi Martin, external affairs manager for the National Autistic Society Scotland, said: “For many autistic children and young people, school is a source of profound stress and anxiety, which means they either cannot engage in learning or, in some cases, cannot attend school at all.

“The physical school environment can contribute to this stress and anxiety – busy corridors, noisy classrooms, and open-plan brightly lit communal spaces can all cause challenges for autistic young people who experience sensory overstimulation.

“We welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to review the physical environments in our schools and the ambitious timescales it has set out for this work.

“We would welcome the opportunity to be involved in the review alongside autistic young people and families, and hope that the outcome is more autism friendly school environments, so that many more autistic young people can access their right to education.”