No Swinson as Jo Swinson seat won by SNP

TEN YEARS on from the Liberal Democrats decision to build the new Bishopbriggs High School on the site of the old Thomas Muir school on the outskirts of the town.

The general election 2019 sees Jo Swinson lose her seat to the SNP.

Despite the then Lib Dem run council asking the people of Bishopbriggs to decide where the new school should be built, and the people deciding to built it on the existing Bishopbriggs High School site. The council ignored the people and voted against that democratic decision and decided to build the new school on the Thomas Muir, out of town, site.

At the next local council election the Lib Dems administration was humiliated when they lost.

On the old Bishopbriggs High School site the new £800,000 sports hall was first thing to be demolished by the demolition company. After investigation it was deemed to have been a mistake, and NO further action was taken.

Today, 10 years on, the old Bishopbriggs High School site remains derelict and empty.

New homes continue to be built in Bishopbriggs and the demand for secondary school places sees the council having to consider placing pupils inside the Bishopbriggs Academy catchment in other schools.

Maybe they could build a new school on the unused High School site - it's still the best option, in my opinion.

More to follow...

As we start 2016 the Bishopbriggs High School site remains empty - the £800,000 sports arena is still demolished 6 years on

The community of Bishopbriggs could still be using the £800,000 sports hall  on the old Bishopbriggs High School site if it hadn't been demolished (by accident).

Years after the decision by East Dumbartonshire council to build the new school, against the public consultation, on the Thomas Muir Site, we're still waiting for a use at the high school site.

In May 2010 the new £800,000 sports hall on the Bishopbriggs High School site was demolished 'by mistake' and without permission.

Now over 6 years later the site still remains empty.

No action was taken against anyone over the 'mistake'.

Bishopbriggs lost a publicly funded sporting asset only to see the site remain derelict and empty to this day.

What do you think East Dumbartonshire Council. should have done?

Locals near the building site of the new Bishopbriggs Academy claim construction staff are ignoring planning conditions by working on bank holidays.

FED-UP residents have been forced to keep the windows closed on bank holidays.

Donald Macdonald, chairman of Woodhill Residents' Group, said: "Over two years ago, the residents' group, along with local school boards, Torr Road residents and Bishopbriggs Community Council, took part in a planning hearing involving all 24 councillors.

"We were told that the 46 conditions applied to the site would protect our local amenities and properties.

"What we have since discovered is that no one in East Dunbartonshire Council is prepared to enforce any conditions that will inconvenience the builders."

Read the full story on the Kirkintilloch Herald site here...

Bishopbriggs High School £800,000 Sports Hall to be demolished just years after completion...

The Bishopbriggs High School (Academy) Sports Hall is coming down.

Just years after it was hailed as a great addition to community, now the council plan to demolish - it cost the tax payers almost £1 million to build.

As the comment on the last post said " So much for helping our children's level of fitness or providing activities other than hanging about the streets".

From Jo Swinson's website...

"Sports hall demolition would be a ridiculous waste"

In a survey of Bishopbriggs residents released by Jo in 2008, 93% of respondents said they would like to retain the existing sports hall. (the majority also want to keep the school on the High School site)

The building, said "We have not managed to find a viable use for the sports hall." (How about a Sports Hall?)

Jo says "it shows either an amazing lack of creativity or total disregard for the views of local people"


Members of the public will be invited to an exhibition at Bishopbriggs Library on 6th from 10am-2pm and 7th March from 10am-1pm to offer their feedback on this and other proposals for the development of the town centre.

Read her full post here...

Delay fears over Bishopbriggs Academy build...

Parents and pupils in East Dunbartonshire face serious disruption this year after a huge private sector project to build six new secondary schools has been hit by delays.

SNP MSP Gil Paterson claims the completion of the major private finance project could be delayed by several months and could also end up with losses to the public purse because of possible compensation wrangles.

The council admits that there is a problem but says suggestions that delays could run into several months are simply speculation on the part of the MSP.
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Mr Paterson claims that Bearsden Academy, Douglas Academy, Kirkintilloch High, Bishopbriggs Academy, St Ninian's High and Turnbull High will not be ready on their scheduled dates this year of between April and summer and that they could be up to six months late. He is concerned about disruption for pupils, particularly for those who are sitting Standard Grades and Highers should the schools be completed late.

Read full Herald story here...

Bishopbriggs Academy second bottom of East Dunbartonshire schools

In a comprehensive guide to Scottish schools performance, in today's Herald, Bishopbriggs Academy is second from bottom of the East Dunbartonshire table.



Only Kirkintilloch had poorer results.

Bishopbriggs Academy is the product of the amalgamation of Bishopbriggs High School and Thomas Muir High School. Read the rest of this blog then decide if this amalgamation was for the benefit of pupils or the council...

To determine the Herald "league tables", they took the benchmark figures used by employers and universities – the percentage of pupils passing five or more Highers at grades A to C by the end of S5.

On the BBC website the 2002 results are below.

Bishopbriggs High School are second top of this table - Thomas Muir is second bottom.



Check all the results on the Herald website here...

The sinister truth about what they do with our children's fingerprints - Daily Mail

From the Daily Mail here...

They point out that no other country in Europe routinely fingerprints children and that even communist China has abandoned plans for fingerprinting school pupils because it breaches human rights.

They quote the Minister for Schools and Learning, Jim Knight, who this summer admitted that the police can simply help themselves to the children's fingerprints if they are trying to solve a crime.

As one IT security consultant in Britain, Brian Drury, said recently: "If a child has never touched a fingerprint scanner, there is zero probability of being incorrectly investigated for a crime.

"Once a child has touched a scanner they will be at the mercy of the algorithm [stored in the school computer] for the rest of their lives."

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More on the Leave Them Kids Alone website...

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Read what the BBC have to say....

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How to fool school fingerprint scanners with household items...

Fake finger fools fingerprint reader...

Moulding plastic, jelly, milk and tea are all the ingredients that Dialogue Box needed to get past one biometric security device.

View the video here at ZDnet...

Council to fingerprint Bishopbriggs Academy schoolchildren

More than 8000 pupils are to have their fingerprints taken so they can be tracked by teachers.

The scheme is to be introduced in all eight secondary schools across East Dunbartonshire, including Bishopbriggs Academy.

Similar systems already installed in schools in England cost up to £20,000 per school.

From the register

As many as 200,000 primary and high school children from the age of seven have already been finger printed. Supplier Micro Librarian Systems estimates that its technology, which is similar to identification systems used in US prisons and by the German military, is in use by 350 schools throughout the country.

More here...

The Sunday Mail

Milngavie Herald

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Hidden £65m PPP Schools bill

Surprise, Surprise...

Ministers claim they have inherited a hidden £65m liability for privately-financed school projects that the previous Labour-LibDem administration failed to budget for in full.

...by 2010-11 will be £165m as the true cost of the exponential rise in the value contracts has become clear.

These were only £17m last year but leapt to £48m this year before reaching £137m next year and a total of £165m by the final year of this parliament, all for projects that have already been built, are under construction, or have been approved.

More from The Herald

Never mind, just think of the money the council will get from selling the Bishopbriggs High School site plus the 'surplus' land at Thomas Muir and Turnbull.

Parents meeting for Bishopbriggs Academy

Forthcoming meeting on Monday 17th September at 7.45pm where parents can get an update about the latest plans for Bishopbriggs Academy from the council's PPP team.

PPP deals cost Scots £22bn

Scots will have to pay a "phenomenal" £22.3bn over the next four decades to fund all the Public Private Partnership projects across the country - around £4500 for every Scot.

New figures released by the Scottish Executive have revealed the true cost of the 102 contracts for the privately built schools, prisons and hospitals which, in some cases, will be privately run.

The PPP statistics highlight the legacy of taxpayer debt the new SNP executive has inherited from the previous administration.

Professor Allyson Pollock, head of the Centre for International Public Health Policy at Edinburgh University, said: "This is a phenomenal amount of debt being incurred and stored up, not only for this generation but for future generations too. Others have noted the ways in which we are mortgaging our children's futures.



"The high costs of PFI squeezes expenditure on public services spending. In health, there is very good research evidence of the ways in which PFI drains money from public services and as a result services are cut and closed to pay the PFI charges and profits of the banks and shareholders."

A spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party said: "When you break it down it is good value for money."

From The herald

Bats at St Ninian's

I understand that St Ninian's cannot be demolished as bats have been found.

Will this delay the Academy - only time will tell....

We get what we deserve...

The people of Bishopbriggs will get what they deserve after the elections in May.

Legislation states that when two schools amalgamate an election for a new school board should take place as soon as possible.

Almost NINE MONTHS later we are still waiting.

It also states that each candidate should produce UP TO 250 words presenting their case. Yet Ken Low produces more and that is accepted.

Read this site and then decide if these people are representing your interests....

I will not be updating it in the future - you get what you deserve....

School Board hang on by their teeth...

The School amalgamated in August 2006 the School Board act states that election for a new board should commence at that time.

NINE MONTHS later we could have that School Board. But they remain - backed by the council, who should have instigated the change, laid down in legislation - but they didn't. You can only ask yourself why after you've read this site.

Check the school web site for the 'latest' :-) information...

Completed ballot papers should be returned in the envelope provided, to the Head Teacher by 3.00pm on 23rd April, 2007.

Website

No minutes have been posted.....

You can download the Parental Involvement letter here

Just keeping you informed.

Where were the Interim School Board?

Probably the most important meeting with regard to the new Bishopbriggs Academy took place in Tom Johnston House.

Where were the Interim School Board?

Only one member of the Board, Ken Low, attended and only to speak ON BEHALF of the developers.

As for the other members... Your guess is as good as mine - they were NOT at the meeting.

Over fifty members of the public did attend the council planning meeting.

It was important to them - was it important to the school board?

Talks planned on new school sites

PEOPLE will soon get the chance to have their say on plans for two new secondary schools in East Dunbartonshire.

Public hearings will be held within weeks over proposed new sites for Bishopbriggs Academy and Bearsden Academy.

It follows a planning meeting this week at which councillors gave the go-ahead for a fourth school to be built under the £100m public private partnership scheme.

The council committee has now given full planning permission to four of the schools in the rebuilding programme, Kirkintilloch High, St Ninian's High, Turnbull High, and Douglas Academy.

Site visits and public hearings will now be held regarding the two remaining schools.

More from Evening Times

Revised plan for Academy site

The Woodhill Residents Group have submitted a revised plan for the siting of the new Academy.

You can view the document contents here

And a site plan is available on their home page here

The plan involves moving the school North and using the 'surplus' land to accommodate the traffic management.

The council planning meeting will take place next week.

SportScotland 'not happy' at schools facilities...

From today's 'Herald' newspaper

SportScotland have expressed concerns over the sports facilities East Dunbarton Council have proposed in their PPP schools project.

Particular reference is made to the sale of 'surplus' land when this could be used for sport facilities (see earlier posts).

This is exactly what is happening on the Thomas Muir site were they are now being asked to share sports facilities with TWO neighbouring primary schools.

Read the article for yourself here in the Herald

Travel Plan

This comment has been left by a reader...

I've read the 50 odd page travel plan on the council site re the survey that was completed in October - all the bus routes mentioned come in and out of this terminus.

Also the Council reckon only 74 children will be disadvantaged by the move to TM. The bus routes they quote almost all come in and out of GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL areas- not East Dunbartonshire.

They dismiss Meadowburn and Balmuidy in one sentence and Kenmure in two, in a whole report of 50 pages! Guess it's just tough if you live in Meadowburn.

It looks like the school is going to be used in future by people from Glasgow area. so much for EDC council taxpayers!

I don't think the Council are building a school to benefit Glasgow - they have stopped almost all secondary placing requests.

As I said at the meeting...

"I wonder if the plan will be carried out after the pupils have ALL moved to the High School site and the Thomas Muir site is unoccupied?"

That's exactly what happened, in October - possibly in the school holidays.

Still undecided if this decision was made for the 'educational' benefit of the children?

2007 here we come...