Another busy term has reached its conclusion.  The sun was shining and we had hoped that this would be the day for the turf cutting ceremony.  However, it was not to be…  Meanwhile a very long meeting for EHS, Moray Council and Balfour Beatty staff brought continued good progress on reviewing the room layouts and getting final agreement on what should be included in the building.

On Wednesday, The Moray Council agreed to consult on rezoning for the primary schools in Elgin.  The vast increase in numbers of pupils in the Primary Schools has reinforced the need for the new Elgin High School building to have a capacity for 800+.

The distraction of a school trip to the rugby at Murrayfield is the excuse for the lack of a new post last weekend.  On reflection, writing a paragraph for the blog might have been a better use of the time.  Maybe next season will bring better fortunes!

There is no new news on the start of construction work.  Behind the scenes there is a lot of working going on to finalise the financial arrangements and good progress seems to be happening.  However, there are still some planning issues to be resolved.  Hopefully these can be quickly overcome so that we can meet the new target date  for getting on site in May.

This week saw the arrival of the first skip.  The aim is to empty the garages before they are demolished to make way for the new PE block.  At the moment they are filled with an amazingly varied collection of bits and pieces that have been stored over the years “in case we need them again”.  There are even some items of furniture salvaged from the old Elgin Academy building before it was demolished.  This will be the first of many skips that will be filled in the coming months.

We continue to work towards May as the time for the cutting of the first turf.  There have been more meetings about room data sheets and room layout designs.  We are making progress!

The headlines in this week’s Northern Scot were not encouraging.  On Wednesday the Moray Council received a report outlining the delays and the reasons.  However, we are still working hard towards starting on site in May.  There have been more meetings about room data sheets – trying to finalise exactly what will be in each teaching area.  The trees beside the garages were felled last weekend.  The planting barrels and benches were saved so that they can be used again.  The wood is being stored with the aim of using it as some sort of feature in the new build.  At Greenwards there is work taking place on the gas mains.  This involves splitting the supply so that EHS and Greenwards can continue as normal while the new build is being constructed.  We even went ahead with the final staff v. pupils football match in anticipation of losing the pitches.  The score is not to be mentioned, but the event raised a good sum for Red Nose Day and the Anthony Nolan cancer charity.  Well done to the pupils!

Meanwhile, life continues as normal at EHS.  The Northern Scot also had good coverage of the football match along with information about EHS pupils taking part in the Elgin city centre charrette, Career Academies and the foam party.  While the delays are frustrating, the ongoing work with the current pupils is exciting as well as being the main focus.