A dream vision

Are these two your mates, I ask Sorcha in a quiet moment. "That's a matter of opinion," she smiles. "It depends what mood I'm in. They're boys."

So far so ordinary, but if these three are more excited (and more talkative) than lots of teenagers, they have good reason. Tomorrow night, the red carpet will be unfurled for the first Scottish Royal Variety Performance at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall. It's a starry line-up: the Sugababes (with new singer, Jade) will be there, plus the Soweto Gospel Choir, Daniel Bedingfield and home-grown talents such as Scottish Opera, the Red Hot Chilli Pipers and Dougie MacLean as well as more comedians and entertainers than you can shake a stick at.

The concert, which is intended to become a glitzy annual event, is the brainchild of The Royal Blind School, with all proceeds going to their appeal to fund ambitious plans to redevelop the historic Craigmillar Park campus where the teenagers board. Sorcha and Stephen will be taking part as members of the school's samba band, whose music will be beamed into the hall via video, while Saad will perform live, taking to the stage to play a piece of piano music entitled The Passing Waves, written by himself.

"I'm quite nervous about the concert," he says, "but I'm really excited about the fact that I'm playing my own composition. I've made loads of other pieces for my exams but they all use different instruments. This is the first piece that's purely piano music that I've worked on and completed. I'm quite excited to see what people's reactions will be."

Saad was only two when he was diagnosed with cancerous tumours in his eyes. His parents were given the terrible choice of having his eyes surgically removed or subjecting him to aggressive chemotherapy which might kill him. The decision to operate left him cancer-free, but blind.

Sitting with his physics folder in front of him, his cane folded on top of it and a bag bulging with books slung under the table, Saad is confident and articulate. If he's nervous about the concert he does a good job hiding it. But he has reason to be calm. Saad is a gifted musician and talented composer – he has already sat his Higher music and has moved on to Advanced Higher. Plus, he's a bit of a media star. "He always gives the interviews," says Sorcha, giggling, "but I started a week before Saad. I came here in 2003 when I was eight."

Sorcha, who lost her sight when she was six, is also a talented musician, playing violin and piano. From Aberfeldy, like Saad, she attended a mainstream school before arriving at The Royal Blind School. They both say that they are glad they experienced mainstream schooling, but are also clear that The Royal Blind School has given them opportunities and confidence that would be hard to come by in that setting.

"Being at a mainstream school you get to understand real life – not everyone is going to be nice all the time," Saad says. "I got used to it. I have two brothers who are at mainstream school and it's good because when they talk about it I know how it works. But here you can be more confident because you're not different. Everyone's partially sighted or blind, there's lots of support from the teachers."

For Julie Shylan, the new principal of the school – she is only three weeks into her new post after coming from a school for deaf and blind children in Sydney, Australia – hearing two fourth-year pupils waxing lyrical about how much they like school must be a treat, but it's not unexpected. For Shylan, the culture of the school is what has really made an impact in her first weeks in the job.

"The first impression that you get is of a very vibrant, very positive, very supportive culture," she says. "The students themselves seem very confident with their image as young people with a visual impairment."

Spread across two campuses in Edinburgh, one at Canaan Lane and one at Craigmillar Park, The Royal Blind School is a unique, world-renowned educational service for children with visual impairments from pre-school age to 18. At the moment there are 90 pupils attending the school, with room for more. About half are boarders. As well as standard curriculum subjects (Sorcha, Saad and Stephen rattle off the subjects they're studying with practised ease) pupils are also given tuition in orientation and mobility, Braille and independent living skills.

"The young people here are known by the local shopkeepers and the bus drivers on the local routes. They are building their role as active participants in the community," says Shylan. "It's important to develop this campus so that it remains fit for that purpose and continues the historical significance of this site."

Craigmillar Park has been the home of a school for children who are blind or who have a visual impairment since 1875. The Scottish Royal Variety Performance tomorrow is a glitzy platform to boost the appeal which aims to raise 6 million over the next four to five years to allow the phased redevelopment of the site.

The first part of the plan is to build a new residential wing which will allow the children to live in a separate building from where they attend classes. Here they will learn how to live independently, to cook and clean and do laundry, preparing them for life after leaving school.

Looking over glossy plans and stylised architectural drawings, Shylan explains there will be independent bedrooms in what will effectively be houses, so that each group of young people will live in a "house" with other groups of young people and their carers.

There will be accessible bedrooms and bathrooms for students who have physical disabilities as well as a visual impairment. There will be space for parents to come and stay while they visit their child or children who board at the school. There will also be a flat kitted out for practising all the independent living skills, such as cooking and laundry, for pupils reaching the age when they'll be leaving to head off to live on their own.

The second parts of the redevelopment, which will cost 15m in total, involves revamping the swimming pool and gym and also improving the Braille press located on the site. The plans are part of the school's aim to not only give pupils access to exams and formal learning, but also to the kind of skills learned outside specific classes, which are formulated by being part of an exciting school community: confidence and ambition.

There's a weekly caf called Vera's Coffee Shop in the gatehouse on a Thursday morning. This is run by the pupils and supported by their home economics teacher. Pupils buy the stock, they bake the scones and make the tea and coffee. They serve customers and take money. The school has an allotment where the pupils grow vegetables which they cook and eat, and a foreign travel programme that has included recent trips to Paris and Prague.

Stephen, 13, the quietest of the three, says coming to the school was nerve-racking after being at a mainstream school until Primary 7. Stephen lost his sight when he was eight years old as a result of a degenerative eye condition (Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy) which his brother and one of his sisters also have. "I thought I wouldn't fit in because I'd been in mainstream school all my life and here it's a lot different," says Stephen. "I thought it'd be scarier because I'd been around all my friends for a long time and because I'd be away from my family."

But Stephen has settled in with the help of staff and by taking part in activities that include the samba band and swimming. He's also got a fine example to follow in his older sister, Libby. A former pupil, Libby won a silver medal in the 100m sprint at the Beijing Paralympics. Stephen and his family were there, cheering from the stands.

"Just watching my sister do that gave me lots of inspiration," he says. "I've started swimming now with my brother. I've improved a lot."

For Shylan, the confidence that emanates from the students comes at least partly from the way in which they are involved with decisions concerning the school. There is a school council with pupil representatives from every year group and there is a residential council too, where students are encouraged to tell the staff how they feel, what they like and what they want changed. The planned new building is a perfect example.

"The pupils were fully consulted about what they want," says Shylan. "This is their home. The architects, care and educational staff met students to ask what is important for them."

One idea that came out was the inclusion of central meeting areas on each floor where pupils can meet and can catch up with friends who live in other houses. The other big issue was the building's environmental impact. "They were very concerned the new building should be ecologically sound. There are plans to recycle water for use in toilets and sprinkler system, there will be solar collection panels on the roof to reduce heating costs. These might have been things that the architects would've pushed for anyway, but it came from the young people."

Back at the piano, Saad is giving me a sneak preview of his piece. It sounds great. Is he pleased with it? "I really like it," he says. "I was actually surprised when I finished it that it sounds pretty good. Sorcha even said it was good so there must be something good in there somewhere."