Primaries 'bursting at seams' get extensions

TWO primary schools which are "bursting at the seams" are set for multi-million pound extensions.

City leaders have announced 4.1 million of funding for both Corstorphine and Towerbank Primary schools.

The cash will be spent on creating much-needed extra classrooms and dining areas.

It is hoped the work will be completed by 2011 at the latest.

A portable classroom will be brought into Corstorphine later this year when work on the extension gets under way, while work at Towerbank in Portobello will hopefully get under way next year.

The money has been found as part of the city council's ongoing budgeting process, which will be finalised next week.

The news of investment has been welcomed by parents, although it is seen as a measure which is long overdue, as the schools are already struggling to meet catchment needs.

At Towerbank Primary – which is to benefit from a 2.2 million investment – parents say they have been waiting three years for an extension to be built.

They say the school has become more and more popular over the past three or four years and that it will struggle to cope with the new intake of primary one pupils in August.

It is one of five primaries identified by education bosses last year as having difficulties meeting catchment needs, along with Corstorphine, Ferryhill, Preston Street and St Mary's in East London Street.

Corstorphine will receive an investment of 1.9 million to address its accommodation issues.

Sean Watters, chair of Towerbank's parent council, said: "The school is bursting at the seams and we are facing another increase in P1 come August. We are pleased about the extension, but it's not going to happen soon enough and we will have immediate problems in August.

"The school has been a victim of its own success in many ways and there's been a big increase over the past three or four years because parents who used to send their kids out of catchment are now sending their kids to their catchment school.

"I can't see the council being keen on any kind of catchment review, but we may need that because there's going to be hundreds of additional housing units in Portobello within the next two or three years."

Due to the increase in pupil numbers, the school only has two rooms left which are not used as classrooms – an ICT suite and a library.

Mr Watters warned that at least one of these will be lost in August, as the expected P1 intake of 93 will require a total of four P1 classes – one more than last year.

Councillor Marilyne MacLaren, the city's education leader, said: "Towerbank in Portobello is a very popular school and this is set to continue so we have an obligation to plan for this by extending the facilities, while Corstorphine has been waiting for improvements for far too long.

"These are schools where they have to take lunch in three sittings because space is so tight so the new facilities will really improve the situation.

"I am delighted to have secured this money towards improving these schools."