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Summary of first Academy meeting with the Parent Forum

For all those unable to attend last night's meeting.

The low turnout could have been due to the very short notice period, bad weather, middle of the Christmas season or a number of other reasons.

The meeting started with a motion on the legality of the boards position to negotiate with the council. This was noted and the meeting continued.

In the first public meeting in the five months since the amalgamation Ken Low went over the plans for the new Academy. The same plans that have, and are, available at the council offices, online and displayed at the school last month.

The original 14 days time scale to lodge objects, which has gone, is now available again due to the traffic assessment being lodged this week with planning. This plan is available to view at the council offices. As far as I am aware nobody, at the meeting, had seen this traffic plan.

The position of the school, on the site, was questioned and it was asked if this had been a compromise as the old Thomas Muir School had to remain for the pupils of a Kirkintilloch School. It was noted that to achieve the time scale the developers plan required this situation.

Access to the school was debated and parents were not happy with the present plan. This may have been addressed in the 'unseen' traffic plan.

To counter suggestions about the 'surplus land' the council have suggested that another 'shared' outdoor sports facility with St Helens (across Wester Cleddens Road) be considered. This would give the school TWO 'shared' facilities with neighbouring primary schools. The first being the pitch the council now count as part of the Thomas Muir site, the Woodhill Primary pitch.

On the internal layout of the school the width of corridors was raised. It was suggested that a 'one way' system may have to be implemented for pupils to move around the school.

These discussions took up the bulk of the meeting, which last over two and a half hours, during which time several people left. This left little time for discussion on why the Board had not held election for a new Academy board five months ago as laid out in the legislation.

One member of the School Forum questioned the lack of information given to parent by the board since the amalgamation, a requirement under the School Board Scotland Act. Ken responded that the board considered that this information should come from the head teacher. More information has been available on this site than has come for the School Board or Council.

I suggested they use the, councils, Bishopbriggs Academy web space. It has been available since August, to keep parents informed, nobody was aware it existed. At the time of the meeting it shows Ken Low as a parent member of the Bishopbriggs Academy board (see screen shot below). This position is an elected office, I don't remember the election - do you?

Eventually a vote was held, and the motion (below) carried, by the majority of parents in attendance, this requires the council to hold elections for a new Bishopbriggs Academy Board, with immediate effect.

The meeting then closed.

If anyone has anything to add please use the comment option below.

PPP to generate "substantial value" for amec

Some information from amec web site...

In addition to its equity investment of around £3.5 million, AMEC will benefit from contracts to design and construct the schools, redevelop surplus land on five sites and provide estate management services over the concession period, with a total value over £125 million. Financial close is targeted for December 2006, with construction beginning immediately thereafter and full completion scheduled for mid-2009.

More from inspirED partner amec

The group, InspirED, is comprised of amec, John Laing and Innisfree. Amec plans to invest £3.5 million of equity into the £125 million scheme.

"This is another important step forward in our strategy of carefully selected investment in complex PPP schemes," said Sir Peter Mason, Chief Executive of amec.

He also cited PPPs as a means of generating "substantial value in the future".

Access the school plans on the Internet

View the Planning documents relating to the new Bishopbriggs Academy here...

Use this link then select 'Applications of Particular Interest' (at the bottom) - Again the bottom link - 'TP/ED/1199 - Bishopbriggs Academy (Thomas Muir Site)' to see the plans.

You may want to check the 'Good Neighbour Agreement'

You cannot link directly to this page!

If after reviewing the above documents, you require help or want to object. (Since the Council advert in the Herald did NOT include any address for objection)

Contact :

Planning, Development & Property Assets
The Triangle
Kirkintilloch Road
Bishopbriggs
G64 2TR

Tel: 0141 578 8600

E-mail: Partnership and Planning

You can use this link to the Woodhill Residents site - where you will find a link to their 'draft letter of objection'.

Public see new school presentation

Busy evening at the unveiling of the Bishopbriggs Academy plans, to the public, last night at the former High school.

I felt sorry for the architects, they were shocked at the response of visitors, not to the school design, but the Council decision to move its location, against public consultation. The inspirED staff, I spoke to, had yet to meet anyone who agreed with the Council decision (apart from the council employees).

Safety

On a safety question, why are goods vehicle using the main entrance to the school when the 'goods in' access is only meters from the road at the side of the school? I was told that no vehicle entrance could be made here because Caledonian Estates own the strip of land between the school and the road.
Why was money not made available to purchase this land to create a safe entrance for goods?

Design

I pointed out that the first design for a school at Thomas Muir was almost identical to the design for the High school, that was rejected. The architects then provided at least two more designs for Thomas Muir. Why were the architects asked to re-designed for the Thomas Muir site - were they asked to re-design for the High school site? Apparently the Council view was they couldn't re-design on the High school site due to site restrictions - why? The same design, rejected at both the High school and Thomas Muir sites, is being built on the St Ninians site! The architects, like myself, were happy with the design at the High school. For anyone who didn't see it, the design was a fantastic modern school (sadly rejected) but you'll see a similar school being built at St Ninians.

Bishopbriggs will now have a design that, due to site restrictions (architects statement) will be built on land the public decided against. Look back over this site and decide if Bishopbriggs received the best possible outcome.

Last night was the first chance I had to see the schools' new crest - what did you think?

inspirED proposal

Just to spell it out for everyone.

The builders (not the council) will, as part of the PPP project, gain several plots of valuable land 'left over' after the new schools have been built.

This includes the prime, town centre, site of the Bishopbriggs Academy.

It is my understanding that anyone wanting to use this site (including the council) will have buy it back from the builders.

It will be interesting to see how much the land at Bishopbriggs High is worth as a percentage of the estimated £25 million profit.

The public can then calculate the cost of the Bishopbriggs schools - subtract this figure from the project cost and work out how much the council really spent building our two schools.

This can then be compared to the money spent in the other council areas.

Given that the builders had been told what site to build the new Academy on and knowing that they would gain the land left over.

Their first duty as a PLC is to their share holders to make the maximise profit.

That said, the builders have to be commended on their proposal to switch sites and move the new school, away from the town centre, onto the outskirts of the town.

This would then leave them with a large plot of prime land in a town centre location and allow them to build on a flat site.

But then the did make their decision on 'educational' grounds, it truly was inspirED.

How to make money from schools...

Quotes from an article that appeared in The Herald newspaper

Havelock sees rewards of PFI in schools

Havelock Europa increased profits by 14% in the first half, helped by strong growth in its educational fittings business, which it expects to benefit from a surge in government spending on schools for years to come.

An increase in revenues from £40.3m to £42.1m, which was entirely attributable to the educational division following a big increase in spending by the Scottish Executive on school improvement projects under the private finance initiative (PFI).

Whereas the executive laid out around £190m on school PFI projects under phase one of its schools improvement programme in 2002-03, spending topped £280m in the latest year.

He expects spending to rise to £715m in Scotland in 2007-08

However, in both cases Balfour was pleased that Havelock Europa had won new business from firms such as Marks & Spencer.

Now over a thousand regular visitors...

Thanks, figures show that this sites has over 1,000 regular visitors per week - and growing!

It's fantastic that so many are interested in why the council went against public opinion and voted to build the new school on the Thomas Muir site.

In just over a month this site has attracted over 10,000 visitors!

Thank you all for your support...

Keep visiting for the latest on the Bishopbriggs High story - gone but not forgotten...