New super school will provide the "very best" for Tain
A NEW super school serving the whole of Tain is the way forward to provide the town with the “very best” education facility, according to one local councillor.
Councillor Jamie Stone, ward member for Tain and Easter Ross, made the comments after a Highland Council committee agreed on Wednesday to push ahead with plans to replace all four schools in the Royal burgh with a campus for pupils aged three to 18.
Three possible sites have been shortlisted for the campus — the grounds of Craighill Primary School, the current Tain Royal Academy site and farm land at Kirksheaf Road, which offers an entirely new school location.
Those site options will be considered during a month-long public consultation.
It is due to begin next month.
The new school campus will replace Tain Royal Academy, Craighill and Knockbreck primaries and St Duthus Special School.
Councillor Stone told the Journal after the meeting he was not aware of any negativity being expressed in the town towards the plan.
“It is pretty exciting and what I would say is pretty special is that I think there really is pretty much a unanimous view that this three to 18 campus would be the way forward for the town,” he said.
“I have been very impressed by the support that has been expressed by the people living in Tain.
“I absolutely believe education is the way forward and that going down this road will give us something that really is the very best.”
Councillor Stone also hoped the “super school” would attract very capable teaching staff.
He said the special school building was in a really “desperate” condition and a temporary unit is to be put in place there.
He added that reports have indicated the buildings at Craighill and Knockbreck primaries were “unsatisfactory”, although they have both received tremendous praise for the level of education taught there.
Referring to the academy building, Councillor Stone said it was state-of-the-art when he moved there from the old school as a pupil, but now it was beginning to show its age.
Councillor Stone would not be drawn on his preferred site, saying he would leave that to the consultation as he believed in the “wisdom of crowds”.
Members of Highland Council’s education, children and adult services (ECAS) committee have agreed the local community will be “engaged with” on the site selection process over a four-week period starting in the second half of June.
Fiona Robertson, a fellow ward councillor for Tain and Easter Ross, told the committee meeting Tain had two of the area’s most dilapidated primary schools but the pupils performed brilliantly despite the conditions.
She added: “The two worst primary schools are in Tain. It is always worth noting that they are very, very high performing schools, particularly Knockbreck Primary School.
“It just goes to show what can be done and how much better the pupils will be when they are in the better building.”
The public consultation will include drop-in sessions where people will have the opportunity to review the site options.
Feedback will also be sought from the local community via the Council’s website www.highland.gov.uk.
A report on the outcome will be presented to the ECAS committee in August and a decision on the timing of a statutory consultation on proposals relating to changes in education provision will be made by the council over the coming months.
Councillor Alasdair Christie, chair of the ECAS Committee, said: “Although the capital programme is fully committed until Autumn 2016, it is important that we consult in the meantime to ensure that we have all the information available to members in 2016 so that they can decide which of the schools projects will be next under the Council’s Sustainable Schools Estate Review.”