Culloden Academy woes continue amid concern about plans being downsized and the delivery date pushed back to 2025 as chairwoman of the parent council accuses the local authority of 'trying to build a school to suit a budget, rather than finding the budget to suit a school'
Significant cuts to the size of the Culloden Academy extension and a potential delay until 2025 before it is completed – back from 2023 – has prompted worried parents to write to Highland Council expressing their concerns about the project.
The email is addressed to the chief executive Donna Manson and copied to the chairwoman of the council’s housing and property committee Glynis Sinclair as well as education chief Nicky Grant and local councillors.
In it, Jennifer Alexander, chairwoman of Culloden Academy Parent Council, outlines seven major concerns and accuses the local authority of “trying to build a school to suit a budget, rather than finding the budget to suit a school”.
The main concerns, according to Ms Alexander, are with the new floor plans that see the extension shrink by 300 square metres – something that came out of the blue to the parent council.
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Ms Alexander said: “Our main concern is the change in the floor plans and why it is so much smaller than the previously presented floor plan in January 2022.”
She also asked: “What is the educational justification for reducing the size of the building?”
She then flagged up the “removal of key spaces”, deeming the omission of a “learning plaza” and central staircase “very concerning and not acceptable” as there were few enough places for pupils to congregate.
The apparent loss of two art and two home economics classrooms is also problematic as, particularly in the latter case, the plan had been to reduce the size of the drama block to allow for a larger home economics department.
When the school will be delivered is also causing parents a headache as, with all council capital projects, a review is under way to see what can be paid for, with a risk some may not get done at all.
Ms Alexander added: “We are an extremely positive parent council which has grown again considerably over the past few years. The engagement of our parents and students is at the forefront of this and we would be doing them a disservice if we did not express our extreme disappointment and concern with the lack of progress which has been made since the Stakeholder group commenced in February 2021.
“Culloden Academy is over 40 years old, numerous members of Highland Council have walked around the school with us, it is in desperate need for upgrading and replacement for the students, staff and local community. Phase 1 was deemed essential and awarded funding in 2018 and here we are four years later still discussing the plan, do you think this is an acceptable situation? Further, we are concerned that this chopping and changing is causing additional delays and continually eroding the available budget which is no-one’s interest.”
A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “Pre-construction stage design and planning works continue for Culloden Academy. Officers recently provided an update to stakeholders last week and we will continue to engage with the stakeholder group. The Council has received the letter from the Parent Council and we will look to respond in due course.”
For years, Culloden Academy's school rolls have been bursting at the seams due in part to massive upsurge home building in the area. Currently there is inadequate space for