The first meeting of the Moray Council Steering Group for the new build was held this morning.  This included councillors, council officials and a representative of the Parent Council.  The group has the remit of keeping an overview of developments.  It was good to have a review of progress and the next steps of the project as well as hearing how it will link to the Hubco which will be responsible for much of the planning and build.  The timescale for starting in spring 2014 and opening in summer 2015 is still very much achievable – although there is a lot of work to take place.  A Senior Project Manager should be appointed very soon.  This person will have responsibility for taking the project forward.  An encouraging meeting!

On Monday a group of third year EHS pupils spent the morning in new Elgin Academy building.  In the future, this group of pupils may be used to organise consultations with younger pupils to help influence the design of the new EHS build.  For most of the pupils it was the first time that they had been in a different secondary school.  They came away very impressed by what they saw and with lots of ideas that would help improve life for pupils in Elgin High School.  We are very grateful to senior pupils in Elgin Academy for taking the time to talk about their school.

On Thursday evening last week it was good to welcome parents of P7 pupils who will be starting at EHS in the summer.  They had a tour of the current building and we could explain the plans for the new building that their children will enjoy when they move into S.3.  Good discussions and a useful reminder that we will need to make sure that during the construction period part of the playing field is kept for lunchtime football!

This next week will see the first meeting of the project committee.  A group of councillors, parent council rep and council officials that will take an overview of the developments over the coming years.  More details to follow.

The pupils and staff have now been back for a week.  Plans for the new build are beginning to get going again.  There was a useful meeting this morning with staff from Moray Council Development Services.  A number of issues about timing were covered to ensure that the project meets both planning and SFT/North Hub deadlines.  We also spoke about the planning requirements to make sure that these are considered from the beginning and potential delays can be minimised.  The target, at the moment, is to have the initial public consultation on the planning application  ready for July 2013.  There is a lot of work and discussions with stakeholders to take place before that!