education and children’s services directorate improving educational attainment and achievement for...

Education and Children’s Services Directorate

Improving educational attainment and achievement for all

Executive Committee – 15th April 2014

Towards a Sustainable School EstatePhase 2

Background Information

Masterton Primary SchoolPitcorthie Primary School



Rationale for proposals -a safe and sustainable school estate

• Declining rolls within some areas of Dunfermline• Increasing rolls within some areas of Dunfermline• Deterioration in condition of a significant number of school buildings:

£2.6 m urgent works £60.4 m essential works £9.8 m desirable works Total £72.8m

• Inefficient buildings with high energy and repair costs• Demands of the new curriculum• Requirement to be agile and responsive to economic development and housing plans• Catchment anomalies

Our ambition is to have schools that are fit for purpose and make suitableand efficient learning environments for children, young people and other learners now and in the future

• Ensure efficiency and sustainability long term • Remove surplus places, where possible • Improve the condition and suitability overall of the school estate• Use our resources wisely• Reduce our carbon footprint



The key principles for consideration in the review:

a) every school should be rated as A or B for both condition and suitability to include a number of accessible schools in each geographical area.

b) schools should have an occupancy rate greater than 60%, occupancy and efficiency range of 80-100%, schools should have a minimum of 3 classes, where possible schools should have a minimum roll of 50 pupils

(c) a strategy for a sustainable school estate should support the progressive reduction in the overall carbon footprint for the Council.



Decision – Masterton proposal

The Committee was content to express the following comments to the Executive Committee:-

a) that the parents of all schools involved in the consultation process be commended for their appreciation for a need for a change to catchment areas in South Dunfermline;

b) the balance of parental view was close with no clear preference for Options A and B;

c) if Option B were chosen then the current joint catchment area would apply, allowing a period for change for families but concern and anxieties would continue;

d) secondary catchments should be considered sooner rather than later to alleviate concerns arising from changes to primary school catchment areas; and

e) the Scrutiny Committee held no determined view on preference between Option A or Option B.

EDUCATION, SOCIAL AND COMMUNITIES SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – 18TH MARCH 2014



Educational Benefits – Masterton PS• The proposal reduces the number of children entitled to attend

Masterton Primary School, removing uncertainty for many parents and reducing the constant pressure for the school and officer staff in constantly managing the situation.

• Increasing rolls at Canmore and Pitreavie Primary Schools will result in children learning and socialising with a large number of children of a similar age.

• Canmore and Pitreavie Primary Schools will benefit from a substantial planned investment, including remodelling of internal areas, upgrading of toilets, improved visual appearance and upgraded ICT. These investments will improve the condition and suitability of Canmore and Pitreavie.

• This proposal provides a long term sustainability option for Canmore, Pitreavie and Masterton schools securing a best value estate.



Masterton Proposal –Why the need for a rezoning of catchment areas?

• Ensure school estate is sustainable long term for future housing and future pupils

• Masterton Primary can’t accommodate all of the children expected from future housing developments

• Neighbouring Pitreavie and Canmore primary schools have spare capacity and require investment in their buildings

• Be responsive to population changes: Masterton catchment area has a higher pupil product than Pitreavie and Canmore

• Alleviate anxiety that currently exists for families in waiting to find out if they have been allocated a place at Masterton

• Over time, aim to match the pupil populations within the catchments to the physical capacities of the schools



House building and planning school places

• Development Plans – describe where development will take place and where it will not. Consists of local plans and strategic development plans (SESplan).

• Fife Local Development Plan - candidate sites required to meet SESplan housing targets. Planning obligations would be requested to contribute towards education provision.

• Fife Council affordable housing programme.

• Housing Land Audit – monitors housing completions and predicts future house building. Updated annually, this is the key document for expected new housing. Regular liaison with planning teams.

• The Directorate is confident that information from all possible sources and the range of planning processes have been used to enable us to plan accurately for the impact of house building on school places.

• The process has been significantly adapted and improved in the last 3 years.



Proposed Housing in the existing Masterton PS catchment area



Existing Nursery pupils affected in August 2015 and August 2016 – with older siblings currently attending Masterton PS



Masterton, Canmore and PitreavieExisting School roll projections before catchment review



Canmore, Masterton and PitreavieSchool roll projections after catchment review



• Roll projection methodology– Pre-school children - NHS Community Health Index (CHI)– P1 intake including placing requests– Existing school rolls and capacities– Proposed housing and additional pupils– Pupil migration between school stages (P1-S4)– Pupil transfer rates (P7-S1) and staying-on rates (S5/S6)– External constraints - population projections (from National Records

for Scotland)

• Internal reviews– roll projection methodology has been developed over 5 years, is

flexible and robust – roll projection methodology was validated by Finance & Asset

Management (July 2009) and by Corporate Improvement Team (February 2013)

– Report presented to Education Scrutiny Committee (May 2013)

Planning of school placementsSchool Roll Projections – Annual Process



Issues• Siblings-families can be in a local area school together

• All schools have established traffic management and travel plans. We will work with families to identify safe routes to school.

• We know and have planned for, all possible housing developments in the new, reduced Masterton PS catchment area

• All classes in Fife are managed to provide best value pupil/teacher ratios in accordance with Scottish Government class size guidance.

• Eventually the catchments will match the school population. Reducing the Masterton PS catchment area does not provide an instant solution but it does alleviate anxiety, creating a more manageable situation.



Pitcorthie PS - The key principles for consideration in the review:

a) every school should be rated as A or B for both condition and suitability to include a number of accessible schools in each geographical area.

b) schools should have an occupancy rate greater than 60%, occupancy and efficiency range of 80-100%, schools should have a minimum of 3 classes, where possible schools should have a minimum roll of 50 pupils.

(c) a strategy for a sustainable school estate should support the progressive reduction in the overall carbon footprint for the Council.



EDUCATION, SOCIAL AND COMMUNITIES SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – 18TH MARCH 2014

Decision – Pitcorthie PS

The Committee was content to express the following views to the Executive Committee:-

a) the case for closure of Pitcorthie Primary School did not meet the guiding principles for closure in the Sustainable School Estate Programme except in the initial analysis of the condition of the building;

b) the structural issues at Pitcorthie Primary School were not imminently significant;

c) the long term future of the building beyond 3/5 years required a decision to be made regarding potential strengthening and refurbishment which could be costly and disruptive for pupils and the whole school community;

d) a further investigation should be undertaken regarding the structure of the building to address issues which were under dispute; and

e) that there were significant pressures on school places in Dunfermline South overall as well as spare places and this required further examination prior to any decision being made about closure.



Educational Benefits

Pitcorthie Children• Increased opportunities to develop friendships with others from a wider geographical area• A well-managed change of school rather than a reactive change should the structure fail• Children in a building which has a long term sustainable future A managed approach avoiding

emergency decant for children which would would lead to disruption to learning • Reduction in the disruption to learning and teaching caused by extensive repair work in

Pitcorthie for at least 3 school sessions. This would also involve a reduction in the current provision eg. playground space, full building accessibility.

Children of receiving schools• Increased opportunities to develop friendships with others from a wider geographical area• A planned spend at Commercial of £580K enhancing learning spaces, upgrading toilets and

improving the visual environment of the school• A planned spend at Lynburn of £480K upgrading school facilities and improving the visual

environment of the school• A planned spend at Touch of £230K upgrading school facilities• At all receiving schools an additional investment of £100K on upgrading ICT

Children in the Dunfermline Area

• A long term sustainability option for Commercial, Lynburn, Touch and Camdean Primary Schools

• More efficient use of resources resulting in an increased ‘best value’ approach for Fife• The school estate providing savings rather than educational resources or staffing• A planned spend at Camdean PS of £900K upgrading school facilities and providing a

specially designed and resourced Pupil Support Centre.



New Lynburn Early Years Facility

• First class, purpose built “Early Years Centre” supporting families from birth to 5 years and developing high quality engagement with parents, eg. parenting programmes, adult learning, baby massage and literacy programmes.

• Early Years department focussing on supporting and nurturing early years pupils, pre-school, and nurturing facility for pupils in one designated area of the school (programmed completion August 2015):

• Accommodation for 160 nursery pupils (3 and 4 year olds) 80 places morning, 80 places afternoon

• Family activity space, with kitchen area

• Nurture room for 0-2 year olds (15 x 2.8 = 42m2) and family nurture

• Access to an secure external play area

• Parents meeting room with tea making facilities

• New secure entrance

• Existing nursery to be converted back to an infant teaching area, to accommodate 3 infant classes



Housing in centre of Dunfermline



Commercial, Pitcorthie, Lynburn, Touch primary schools- school places in existing accommodation

School Roll 2013 Capacity OccupancySurplus Places

Commercial Primary 325 434 75% 109

Lynburn Primary 185 292 63% 107

Pitcorthie Primary 298 410 73% 112

Touch Primary 325 459 71% 134

Total 1133 1595 71% 462



Commercial, Pitcorthie, Lynburn, Touch primary schools- school places after Pitcorthie closure

School Roll 2015 Capacity OccupancySurplus Places

Commercial Primary 450 509 88% 59

Lynburn Primary 401 559 72% 158

Pitcorthie Primary - - - -

Touch Primary 354 459 77% 105

Total 1205 1527 79% 322



PITCORTHIE PRIMARY SCHOOL STRUCTURAL CONDITIONUPDATE – APRIL 2014

• A programme of monitoring and inspections was initiated in 2010 at all Stahlton schools including Pitcorthie with six monthly programmed visits by ArupScotland.

• In 2010 it was recommended that some form of action should be taken within 3 to 5 years (we are currently in year 4).

• Safety was our primary concern - a risk assessment was carried out and the following measures were taken to mitigate the risk:

– plywood sheeting was fixed to the underside of the slabs to prevent the possibility of the concrete blocks falling out, but this is not a structural solution

– Weight limits on floors was restricted and heavy items such as pianos were relocated to ground floors.

• Inspections and monitoring at Pitcorthie have shown no significant new movement, although there are significant deflections in some areas, and new cracks have been detected during monitoring.

• Pitcorthie’s structural condition results in an overall condition rating of C.



• The floor and roof slabs at Pitcorthie PS were constructed using the Stahlton system.

• This system uses precast concrete hollow blocks and pre-stressed concrete planks combined with an in-situ concrete topping.

• The structural integrity depends upon adequate temporary propping until the concrete has cured.

• It has been found to be defective elsewhere. Problems have included progressive deflections and sections of the concrete blocks falling out.

• This system can be found in sections of 13 schools throughout the school estate




• In order for the building to have a lifespan of a further 30 to 50 years, it is recommended by ArupScotland, supported by Property Services, that structural strengthening of the first floor and roof is carried out. This is a precautionary measure to ensure continued pupil and staff safety and also protect any investment in the property.

• This work will, by its very nature, be extremely disruptive and it is proposed that the most intrusive works are carried out over a number of summer holiday periods. It is further recommended that the opportunity should be taken at the same time to upgrade other elements of the building, to include heating and lighting replacement, re-roofing, new ceilings, floor coverings and full redecoration, which will require upgrading within the next 10 years. In this way disturbance to the school will be minimised.

• The projected cost for the combined work and decant is £3m.




Fix the building – what are the issues?• Does not address the over capacity issues – 462 surplus places remain in the

area (equates to 1 large or 2 small primary schools)

• Difficulties with decant

• Disruption to learning and teaching

• Challenges for children with Additional Support Needs

• Potential family disruption if children attending different schools

• Reduced outdoor facilities; parking and access problems

• Ongoing building works for longer period, planned around holidays but would also take place during school term time

• Fixing a Stalhton building with the kind of significant structural defects in Pitcorthie PS has not been carried out before – costs and timescales are indicative

• Would create health and safety challenges

• Would limit breadth of the curriculum and range of facilities available

• Best Value; only the Pitcorthie present and future pupils (approximately 300 pupils per year) would see the benefit of improving their school



Officer Recommendation• To close Pitcorthie PS, resulting in –

1. Educational benefits:- planned and well managed move for children- avoidance of disruption of extensive building works- creation of a first class purpose built “Early Years Centre”

2. Best Value - present and future pupils of Commercial, Touch, Lynburn and Pitcorthie pupils will see the benefit (approximately 1133 pupils per year) of improving the schools. The children of Camdean PS and our children who attend the Pupil Support Centre, will also benefit from significant investment

• £2.1m – building

• £400k for 4 schools ICT

• £1.4m new family nursery/nurture centre estate

3. More long term sustainable school estate for this area of Dunfermline

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