Wick school plan worry 'unfounded'
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A recent meeting of the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council heard that there was worry amongst parents at Pulteneytown Academy that the new amalgamated school expected to open in three years’ time was just a “wing” of the planned replacement secondary school.
However council education, culture and sport head of support services Ron Mackenzie has said that this is “simply not true”.
“We are looking at the campus layout for the new Wick school,” he said. “And very roughly the layout is three buildings on one side of a covered street, and community facilities on the other side.
“Two of the three buildings make up the secondary school and the other is a primary school.”
He added: “There is absolutely no sense in the primary school being a ‘wing’ of the secondary school.”
Mr Mackenzie is to meet the parent councils of both Pulteneytown Academy and the South School on Monday to look at options for the new primary school design and layout.
He said that these concerns may have stemmed from someone misinterpreting the layout plans for the secondary school. They show the general layout of the new campus which is to be situated behind the current high school in West Banks Avenue.
Pulteneytown Academy head teacher Lillian Wark said: “There was a little bit of angst when we saw the blueprint had the primary school as what appeared to be a wing of the high school.
“Since then Mrs Bowers [South School head teacher] and I have met with Highland Council officials and the architect and we realise that it may have been jumping the gun a little.
“The design is still at the very early stages as far as the primary schools are concerned and these meetings have allayed my fears to a great extent.”
The plans show the campus laid out shaped like the letter “E” with five buildings – three on one side and two on the other.
All the buildings are connected by an internal “street” which runs up the middle of the complex.
When initially consulting on options for where to site the new high school, concerns were raised over artists’ impressions, with members of the public commenting that they had had little choice in the look of the building.
At the time Highland Council officials stressed these were just to give an impression.
However, the current “E” shaped layout is “absolutely immovable” said Mr Mackenzie, although work on specific design aspects is ongoing.
“That’s one of the exciting aspects of this design,” he said. “It’s designed with the Caithness climate in mind and it should create a vibrant street with a lot happening.
“I think people will be quite excited by it as the design progresses.”
Miss Wark praised the council for addressing the worries.
“The last thing they want is for anyone to be unhappy with this,” she said. “There is a genuine desire to make it a flagship school on a flagship campus.”
With funding for a new high school on the horizon, the Highland Council opted to use a review of education provision across the region to amalgamate the two schools south of the river into one building sited on the same ground as the new secondary.
The campus will also house community facilities – a six-lane swimming pool, a community library, a games hall, a fitness centre and a dance studio.
Mr Mackenzie said he is “very confident” of making the August 2015 deadline for opening the entire campus and said the primary school design should begin in earnest by mid-to-end of June.
A second new primary school is being planned at the site of the North school incorporating pupils there and those at Hillhead.
