A New School For Portobello?

Roadside view concept art

We know that lots of Porty High students are after more information about the new school. Questions like “When will our new school be built?” and  “How long will it take?” are constantly in our thoughts.   So we decided to take some of the questions we thought should be answered to Mrs MacArthur to see if she could tell us a bit more. 

• What are your views on the new school?

I am very keen for the new school to be built as soon possible and for it to be worthy of 21^st century teaching.

Concept for a possible new school

• Do you think the school will be built and in use in the next 2 years?

I very much hope so but we should know by February coming whether or not the private bill has gone through. If so the school should be built in about 18 months.

• Do you believe that the opposition against the school is genuine?

I believe that yes there are some people that feel the school would be taking away a lot of green space that they feel needs to be kept. But there are some people that simply do not want a school on their doorstep.

• Do you truly believe that the park is the best place for the school to be built?

I very much believe that the park is the best option for the school’s placement.  Having it on the park would mean having much better facilities than are being offered at this current time.

• Where else do you think would be a good option for the school to be built?

There is a plot at Baileyfield. There is an offer on that plot and we are not sure if the offer will be successful.  There is also the less favourable option of doing a phased re-build whilst the school is still in use which would take far longer to do than the original 18 months.

Playing fields on campus

• How long will Portobello be able to last in its current form?

The council will make sure that the building will still be in use for as long as it has to be.  I am sure of that.

• Do you think our education is suffering because of our surroundings?

I do not feel that the pupils’ education is failing because of the building but I do think that it should not be necessary for a school to have the children bussed off site for PE.

We really hope that we have shed a little more light on the subject of our new school and how quickly we might have it. Hopefully we shouldn’t have to wait too long for a school that doesn’t have 8 flights of gruelling stairs!