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Neilston Joint School Campus (Neilston Primary, St Thomas' Primary), Madras Family Centre and New Leisure Facilities
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TOPIC: Neilston Joint School Campus (Neilston Primary, St Thomas' Primary), Madras Family Centre and New Leisure Facilities

Neilston Joint School Campus (Neilston Primary, St Thomas' Primary), Madras Family Centre and New Leisure Facilities 4 years, 6 months ago #1

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Published East Renfrewshire Council Website -

Council welcomes Scottish Government investment programme.

Plans to improve facilities for learning and leisure in Neilston have taken an important step forward with the welcome announcement that the council is to receive support funding as part of the first phase of a £1billion Scottish Government investment programme.

The site of Neilston Primary and Madras Family Centre will provide the cornerstone of the learning campus development comprising a new Neilston Primary, St Thomas' Primary, Madras Family Centre and new library, with the village to also benefit from improved leisure facilities.

Having received approval following a statutory education consultation and inclusion of investment within the Council's capital plan at an estimated build of £30million, the project development is already well advanced.

Now that support funding has been confirmed, the next stage is to design a campus approach in Neilston village involving all stakeholders to ensure it meets local needs for learning and wellbeing now and in the future.

Councillor Paul O'Kane, Convener for Education and Equalities at East Renfrewshire Council -

‘This investment is fantastic news for the pupils, parents and residents of Neilston and beyond. Having received such positive feedback from the consultation reassures me that this will be welcomed by the community. We can now start developing our phase 1 plans for the new learning campus as soon as possible. It's extremely exciting for Neilston and will give our residents modern, fit-for-purpose facilities in the village. We will continue to work closely with the community as these plans progress and I look forward to being involved in this work. ‘

The learning campus will retain the unique identities of both schools, with each having its own head teacher and Parent Councils, and while of a similar size to the Faith Schools' Joint Campus (St Clare's Primary and Calderwood Lodge Primary and Nursery Class) which opened in Newton Mearns in August 2017, will be designed as part of the community of Neilston village.

It will also be designed in full consultation with pupils, parents, staff, the Catholic Church and other local stakeholders to ensure it best meet the needs of children, staff, parents and the community.

A number of additional homes are planned for the area in the coming years, which will lead to a steady but moderate rise in school rolls, so this new campus will ensure the educational provision in the area meets the growing needs of the community.

Re: Neilston Joint School Campus (Neilston Primary, St Thomas' Primary), Madras Family Centre and New Leisure Facilities 4 years, 6 months ago #2

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You can read the Consultation Report -

'CONSULTATION REPORT ON THE CONSULTATIVE PROPOSAL:FUTURE NON-DENOMINATIONAL EDUCATION PROVISION FOR CHILDREN OF NEILSTON PRIMARY AND MADRAS FAMILY CENTRE; AND FUTURE DENOMINATIONAL (ROMAN CATHOLIC) EDUCATION PROVISION FOR CHILDREN OF ST THOMAS’ PRIMARY, NEILSTON'

on the ERC WEbsite here -

www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=23159&p=0

Re: Neilston Joint School Campus (Neilston Primary, St Thomas' Primary), Madras Family Centre and New Leisure Facilities 4 years, 6 months ago #3

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Published Barrhead News On Line -

12th September
By Pippa Smith Reporter

Funding boost for plan to replace two Neilston primaries with joint campus

MAJOR plans to replace two primary schools with a new education campus have been boosted by a government funding promise.

The Scottish Government has announced a nationwide £1billion investment programme, with replacements for Neilston Primary and St Thomas’ Primary included.

This announcement comes after East Renfrewshire Council committed £30million to a new leisure and learning campus in Neilston when its budget was revealed in February.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Education Secretary John Swinney launched the funding scheme on Monday.

It will see the government contribute between £220m and £275m and work in partnership with local authorities across the country to replace a total of 26 schools.

East Renfrewshire’s new education campus will be built on the current site of Neilston Primary and Madras Family Centre.

The funding commitment also allows the council to progress plans for land at St Thomas’ Primary.

Councillor Paul O’Kane, chairman of East Renfrewshire’s education committee, said:

“We’re really delighted. We can now move ahead with designing the school with parents.

“We can now develop our plans for how we use both sites to give the community a full regeneration.

“We’re looking at plans for the St Thomas’ site and further reports will be coming to council.”

Council leader Tony Buchanan added:

“This is fantastic news for East Renfrewshire from the Scottish Government and will see millions invested in a new education campus in Neilston.”

The Scottish Government has also announced that the first projects in this phase could be open by 2022/23.

A further phase of investment will be revealed within 12 months.

Renfrewshire South MSP Tom Arthur said: “I’m delighted to see Neilston included in the first phase of this new investment programme, which I am sure will be a real boost for pupils, teachers and parents, as well as the wider community.

“The announcement is great news for Neilston and East Renfrewshire and I look forward to this project progressing.”

Ms Sturgeon said providing state-of-the-art buildings such as the new education campus in Neilston can make “a real difference” to the lives of pupils, teachers and parents, as well as the wider community.

She added: “This investment continues our efforts to improve the condition of our entire learning estate, from early years through to schools and colleges.”

Re: Neilston Joint School Campus (Neilston Primary, St Thomas' Primary), Madras Family Centre and New Leisure Facilities 4 years, 6 months ago #4

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Published The Extra On Line -


By Drew Sandelands Local Democracy Reporter

Published: 09:00 Thursday 12 September 2019

New education campus to replace Neilston and St Thomas’ primaries given a boost

Major plans to replace two primary schools with a new education campus have been boosted by a government funding promise.

The Scottish Government has announced a nationwide £1 billion investment programme – and replacements for East Renfrewshire’s Neilston Primary School and St Thomas’ Primary School are included.

This announcement comes after East Renfrewshire Council committed £30m to a new leisure and learning campus in Neilston, when its budget was revealed in February.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Education Secretary John Swinney launched the funding scheme on Monday.

It will see the government contribute between £220 million and £275 million and work in partnership with local authorities across the country, replacing 26 schools.

East Renfrewshire’s new education campus will be built on the current Neilston Primary and Madras Family Centre site. The funding news also allows the council to progress plans for the land at St Thomas’ Primary.

Paul O’Kane, the council’s education committee chairman, said: “We’re really delighted, we can now move ahead with designing the school with parents.

“We can now develop our plans for how we use both sites to give the community a full regeneration.

“We’re looking at plans for the St Thomas’ site and furtherreports will be coming to council.”

Council leader Tony Buchanan said: “This is fantastic news for East Renfrewshire from the Scottish Government that will see millions invested in a new education campus in Neilston.”

The Scottish Government also announced the first projects in this phase could be open by 2022-23.

A further phase of investment will be revealed within 12 months.

Neilston’s MSP Tom Arthur said: “I’m delighted to see Neilston included in the first phase of this new investment programme, which I am sure will be a real boost for pupils, teachers and parents, as well as the wider community.

“This investment builds on the progress made over the last 10 years, with 928 schools built or substantially refurbished since 2007.
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“The announcement is great new for Neilston and East Renfrewshire, and I look forward to this project progressing.”

And Ms Sturgeon added: “Modern, state of the art buildings can make a real difference to the lives of pupils, teachers and parents as well as the wider communities they serve.

“This investment continues our efforts to improve the condition of our entire learning estate, from early years through to schools and colleges.”

Re: Neilston Joint School Campus (Neilston Primary, St Thomas' Primary), Madras Family Centre and New Leisure Facilities 4 years, 6 months ago #5

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In their letter submission to the East Renfrewshire Council Leisure in Eastwood : looking to the Future Consultation dated 24 May 2018,

Jackson Carlaw MSP and Paul Masterton MP quoted the following figures -

'......The Council have spent £211,000 in the last 7 years on Eastwood Leisure Centre.

Furthermore, the Council are proposing to replace Neilston Leisure Centre but has spent almost 3 times as much on it over the same period (£608,000) to provide leisure facilities for just over 5,000 residents verses the 67,000 people served by Eastwood Leisure Centre'

You can read the full letter submission here -

www.paulmasterton.org.uk/sites/www.paulm...Leisure%20Letter.pdf

Re: Neilston Joint School Campus (Neilston Primary, St Thomas' Primary), Madras Family Centre and New Leisure Facilities 4 years, 6 months ago #6

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The National Secular Society Website

Posted: Thu, 17 May 2018
NSS: joint campus rows show need to secularise Scottish education

The National Secular Society has said calls for children to be segregated on joint campuses have "shown the need to take education in Scotland out of religious control".

Two councils are considering opening shared campuses between non-denominational primary schools and Catholic ones to the south of Glasgow. The Catholic Church has voiced opposition to one of the plans and said segregating children would help to alleviate its concerns.

North Lanarkshire Council is planning to build a campus in the village of Newmains, which would host Newmains Primary School and St Brigid's Primary School. A consultation report on the proposal was presented to the council's education committee on Wednesday.

This week the Catholic Church's Diocese of Motherwell expressed opposition to the plan, arguing that "the shared campus model inevitably results in a dilution of the unique ethos of the Catholic school".

In a report the diocese asked the council to extend "flexibility" to St Brigid's.

"Crucifixes, statues and other elements of iconography have a significant role in creating and sustaining the Catholic ethos and this should be evident in all areas of the school building. The experience of shared campuses in North Lanarkshire has been that all such areas have been required to be totally neutral and free of Catholic iconography."

The diocese also called for children to be segregated when joint campuses are built. "Some of these difficulties could be mitigated by the provision of totally separate entrances to the two schools rather than, as has been the case up until now, a common entrance hall leading to two separate wings," it said.

Meanwhile East Renfrewshire Council will hold a public consultation on a proposal to open a shared campus in Neilston, between Neilston Primary School and St Thomas' Primary School. The council is considering its options after both schools' conditions were ranked as 'poor' and the schools were found to have a repairs backlog of more than £2.6m.

The council's head of education services, Fiona Morrison, said "careful consideration would be given to the views of the Catholic Church". And the director of education, Mhairi Shaw, said this week that tackling sectarianism "would never be a priority or condition for us" in building the campus.

Some councils have previously acceded to the Catholic Church's demands for segregation. In 2014 West Dumbartonshire Council accepted plans for separate entrances at a joint primary school campus.

Last year East Renfrewshire opened a joint campus featuring a Catholic primary school, a Jewish primary school and a non-denominational nursery class.

The NSS criticised the measure as bringing "segregation under one roof".

The schools have separate entrances.

In other instances the church has asked for separate staff toilets, staff rooms, nurseries and gyms.

Most schools in Scotland are non-denominational or Catholic. Non-denominational schools are run by local councils. Each council education committee retains at least three places for religious nominees, under legislation dating back to 1929 and beyond. In most parts of Scotland this includes at least one representative of the Catholic Church and one from the Church of Scotland.

Social segregation has tended to mean children from Protestant backgrounds go to non-denominational schools, while those from Catholic backgrounds usually go to Catholic schools.

The NSS has long been calling on the Scottish government to roll back religious influence in education, including as part of its No More Faith Schools campaign.

Alastair Lichten, the NSS's education and schools officer, said the plans and the reaction to them "highlight the ridiculous situation created by religious influence in Scotland's schools".

"Even if councils do wish to tackle the religious segregation of children, their hands are largely tied. So-called shared campuses just change the nature of religious discrimination and segregation.

"Schools should not entrench sectarianism. The Scottish government needs to be bold and wrest control of education away from religious interests, so that decisions can be made purely on the basis of what is in the interests of children and wider society."

The consultation in East Renfrewshire will run until 26 June.

You can read more here -

www.secularism.org.uk/news/2018/05/nss-j...-scottish-education/
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