Concessions

Yes. However, we do not require to have the drop-in sessions as part of the statutory consultation process itself.

The Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 does not require these, but we know that people find them useful for hearing more information about the proposal and to inform their view on it. As a result of the current restrictions we are unable to visit schools to facilitate such an event. Therefore, during this consultation, we have arranged a series of online meetings so that parents can sign up to join them. Officers can discuss the background to the proposal and take questions from those participating in the meeting.

These meetings will be held via Microsoft Teams. Our experience has shown that some parents/carers prefer to have conversations with officers at drop-in sessions and these sessions have been advertised at various times of the day, to suit as many people as possible:

Tuesday 20 April – 10.00-11.00 am  Thursday 13 May – 2.00-3.00 pm
Thursday 22 April – 2.00-3.00 pm  Wednesday 19 May – 11.00 to 12.00 noon
Monday 26 April – 4.00-5.00 pm  Friday 21 May – 2.00-3.00 pm
Thursday 29 April – 10.00-11.00 am  Tuesday 25 May – 4.00-5.00 pm
Tuesday 11 May – 4.00-5.00 pm

As part of the consultation process, the Council is required to have one public meeting. For this consultation, the Council will facilitate 3 public meetings through live Q and A events where parents/carers can access the live event online, type their questions in the Chat function and these questions will be directed to the officers within the Live Meeting and responses given. Participants will be able to see and hear the officers, however the officers will only be able to see and hear each other.

Public meeting 1 -Live Consultation Event Online
Monday 26 April 2021 at 6-7.30 pm

Public meeting 2 - Live Consultation Event Online
Wednesday 5 May 2021 at 6-7.30 pm

Public meeting 3 - Live Consultation Event Online
Monday 17 May 2021 at 6-7.30 pm

All information on how to get involved with the Live Q and A Public Meeting will be posted a few days prior to each of the above events on this page.

For the avoidance of doubt, the discussions with officers at the drop-in sessions are not recorded in the same way as oral representations made at the public meetings and if people wish to have their views recorded, they can complete the Consultation Response Form (click here). Otherwise, submit their views in writing by email to: sustainableschoolestate.enquiries@fife.gov.uk and/or attend one of the public meetings.

All comments received on consultation response forms, entered online or written comments submitted, including those in the public meetings, will be included in the Feedback Report to Education Scotland (early June). This will assist in the preparation of their report, relating to the educational benefits of the proposal, and will also be included in the Consultation Report. They will be taken account of by officers in consideration of the recommendation on the proposal. This Consultation Report will be submitted to a future Fife Council Committee Meeting, in early September 2021.

The questions received from the three live Q and A events will form part of the oral representations made, be drafted into a minute of the event, and included in the Final Consultation Report.

Parents/carers can complete a consultation response pro-forma with comments here.

As part of the Statutory Consultation process, we are required to consult pupils at the affected schools. We plan to talk to groups of pupils in affected associated primary schools, from stages P4-P7, and a range of S1-S6 secondary pupils from both of the affected schools.

Pupils will be asked if they want to participate, and parents will be asked to give their consent to these discussions.

The end of the formal consultation period is 2nd June 2021 and the Council will accept any consultation response forms or comments received up to and including this day. The feedback from these forms, and the minutes of the public meetings, will be forwarded to Education Scotland to allow them to prepare their report. However, the entire consultation process takes approximately 22 weeks from start to finish.

It is expected that the Consultation Report will be published during August 2021 and this report submitted to a future Fife Council committee, early September 2021, for a decision.

The Consultation Report, which details officers’ recommendations and the feedback of the consultation process, will be submitted to a future Fife Council Committee meeting in early September 2021. The Committee, consisting of elected members and church representatives, will decide whether to approve the proposal in full, in part or not to approve it.

This decision is a final decision of Fife Council and cannot be called in by the Scottish Government. The call-in by Scottish Government Ministers relates to school closures and this proposal involves the relocation of two schools.

The current landowner has applied for Planning Permission in Principle (PPiP) for the whole Masterplan site. The PPiP seeks to set the land use of part of the Masterplan site for Educational use. Thereafter, Approval of Matters Required by Condition (ARC) Planning applications will be lodged for the Campus development.

The Service will await the outcome of the Consultation Report and planning considerations before deciding to go ahead with the option to purchase the required land at the former Shepherd Offshore site.

No, each school will retain their own individual identity. The staff and pupils will continue to be part of their own school communities. However, there are benefits for a joint campus and there will be some areas of the overall building that will be shared. This will be managed through the timetable of each of the schools. For example, the assembly hall will be shared, the dining hall and physical education areas.

As the schools operate two different timetables, the times when each school is using the space can be managed easily. This sharing allows us to create additional, innovative spaces within the campus.

No, this proposal does not include any proposed changes to the catchment areas of the associated primary schools.

No, catchment schools are based on individual addresses. Each address in Fife has two primary catchment schools (one non-denominational and one denominational (RC)) and 2 secondary catchment schools (one non-denominational and one denominational (RC)).

If you need to check your school catchment for your household address, please click here.

If the proposal for the new single site St Columba’s RC High School and Woodmill High School is approved, the Council will need to apply for planning permission for the site and await planning consent before construction can begin. There will be no disruption to the existing pupils and school staff during the construction period, as there is no requirement with this proposal to decant the staff and pupils of both schools. During the construction process, pupils and staff will be kept informed on the progress of construction and may be given access to the site to see progress. As with any transition this will be well planned for all pupils, with particular emphasis for those pupils with additional support needs.

The Education Service, with previous new school builds, has ensured that a number of school pupils have an opportunity to visit the school prior to any steelworks being constructed, have health and safety presentations, and there will be organised site visits for DAS pupils and teaching staff.

Both schools will ensure that they carefully manage the transition from the existing school sites to any single school site for all pupils with additional support needs. For any child where there is a concern about how they will cope with transition, an enhanced transition process will be arranged, which may involve extra visits to ensure the child is familiar with their new school environment.

Indicative access points to the site are shown in Appendix 1.9 of the Proposal Document (click here). The map shows two-mile distances from the main entrances to the site, based on potential design plans. Once construction is near completion, officers will assess the walk routes from the school and carry out a Walked Route Assessment, following approved policy.

If a pupil is over 2 miles from a new site, they will be entitled to receive free transport. Where a child is no longer entitled to receive free transport (i.e. under 2 miles), Transportation will notify parents as early as possible that their entitlement would end prior to relocating to the new single site. For any child under age 14 and living between one and a half miles and two miles of their catchment school, they may be able to apply for a discounted fare (Scholar’s discount).

Yes. Both schools are being built to take account of any new pupils, as a result of new housing developments which are expected in their school catchment area. Woodmill High School will have the capacity for 1700 pupils and St Columba’s RC High School will have a maximum capacity for 1000 pupils, both of which include accommodation for those attending Departments of Additional Support.

The Council will not build additional accommodation for pupils living out-with the catchment areas of the two schools. However, if there is space available as a result of catchment pupils choosing other secondary schools, these additional places will be allocated to those who make placing requests, in accordance with the current Schools Admissions Policy (click here).

As both sites would no longer be required for educational purposes, the options for their future reuse or disposal would be presented to a Committee of the Council for consideration in due course. The future use or disposal of these sites would be reviewed by the Council’s Estate Service (Assets, Transportation and Environment). Any capital receipt is incorporated into the Council’s Capital Receipt Fund in line with existing Council process.

In terms of the Community Use Facility within the existing Woodmill High School, a review of local community provision will be undertaken to help assess optimum use of the existing facility and what can be retained within the Abbeyview area.

As with all Council buildings, emergency repairs to the fabric and maintenance of the overall buildings will continue until the buildings are closed to pupils and staff.

We will work with teams to ensure that the facilities within the new campus are sufficient for the needs of the community. As outlined in the proposal document, the details of these facilities would be determined through the design process, although it is not anticipated that a swimming pool will be included in any new facility.

£117.572m has been allocated from Fife Council’s budget for the replacement of these schools at a single campus site, including the cost of purchasing the additional land.

The planning processes for the masterplan area, school and access road can run at the same time as one another, and a reasonable estimate of timescale is around 18 months. This is from the date of the application for PPiP, to determine the applications, though this is of course dependant on a number of factors including technical studies, levels of public engagement and absence of significant objections or delays.

The construction build period of a campus of this size is expected to take around 3 years to build, after completion of the design, and following approval of any planning consent process. As detailed in the proposal, we would hope that the campus is ready for occupation in August 2024.

The safeguarding of our pupils will be a critical factor in the development of the design of a new campus. Measures to ensure security and restrict unauthorised access will be developed to control access to the schools’ environments.

The Education Service does not believe there is a suitable alternative site location option for this campus. The team looked at this option as part of the site appraisal process, but the areas available for new development, the substantial changes to the existing road network and the significant and prolonged disruption to the operation of the existing School’s outweighed the benefit of such a proposal.

The Education & Children’s Services Committee previously reviewed all site options for the replacement of Woodmill and St Columba’s RC High Schools and determined this is the preferred site. Woodmill High School pupils are currently located in temporary accommodation for half of the school site.

Dining and social areas in the campus will have plenty of seating areas and a number of food options. As in all our recent new build secondary schools, there will be a number of dining options available.

Feedback from previous post occupancy evaluations of other recently completed new secondary schools highlighted that a greater number of pupils remain on site during lunch times as the flexible dining areas and options of food available are meeting the needs of more pupils.

As the timetabling of both schools is different, there would be sufficient space for pupils to have their lunch on site.

There are a number of benefits to relocating both schools to a single site, and these are included in the Educational Benefits section of the proposal paper (Section 4, page 24). The condition and suitability of the existing school sites are “C” for condition (poor) and “B” for suitability (satisfactory).

In the last 5 years, over £10m has been spent at Woodmill High School, including the costs of the fire damage reinstatement, and over £1m at St Columba’s RC High School.

The proposed relocation to the former Shepherd Offshore site would also enhance the arrangements for the senior phase of both schools, which became more apparent following the fire at Woodmill High School in August 2019, when the S6 pupils relocated to St Columba’s RC High School.

The earliest a school could be ready, if planning consent is approved, would be for academic session 2024/25.

A full transport assessment of the proposed site for a new school would be required, as part of the planning application process.

No, the Council has entered into an option’s agreement with the landowner. This option’s agreement gives a party the option to proceed with the purchase of the land on certain terms. It is then for the buyer to determine whether to proceed with the purchase or not.

As with any new building project, the Council, as with private contractors or householders, would have to apply for planning permission. This would be a planning consideration as part of the planning application process. An applicant would have to comply with the conditions granted under approved planning consent.

The new campus is proposed to have full community use, with access to a wide range of facilities when not in use by the schools.

Fife College is building a new facility to replace the Halbeath campus. The Council and College have been working in partnership over many years and it's anticipated that our senior phase pupils will be able to access new and industry standard facilities within the College, as part of the planned curriculums.

As with all construction projects, Fife Council will undertake extensive ecological surveys to establish the presence of any protected species and inform any mitigation measures which may be required as part of the construction.

The proposed new campus will be designed and constructed to be ‘Net Zero’. The campus will include a number of sustainable features which will reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions.

We have a strategy for managing the pupil numbers in this area. The capacity of Woodmill High School is increasing from 1445 to 1700 places. Extensions will be planned in due course for Queen Anne High School and Dunfermline High School, should the numbers increase.