It was an excellent day at the Mosstowie Primary School Fete.  There was good support from parents and the local community and success for some of us at the bottle stall!  It was good to meet future EHS pupils as well as current and former pupils!  A number of people took the opportunity to look at the draft plans and there were several very useful conversations raising some important and interesting issues that will be considered as the discussions develop.  If you missed the displays at the primary school fetes, then get along to Moray College on Monday or Tuesday.  The consultation will continue into the evening and in addition to the architects plans, there will also be photographs showing what can be achieved for the access road as it passes Greenwards Primary School.

Page 3 of today’s Press & Journal (Moray edition) had details of the consultations at Moray College on Monday and Tuesday.  There was also an artist’s impression of what the new building might look like from the outside.  However, the display with more pictures and draft plans will be at the Mosstowie Primary School Fete on Saturday – 12pm to 2pm.  See you there – it will be a good day out and all support is much appreciated!

At the start of the week we welcomed next year’s S.1 pupils to the school.  This was part of their transition programme to support the move from Primary to Secondary.  We had a good three days with them and hopefully the time has helped to take away any fears and worries.  On the final afternoon a group of S.4 pupils ran a workshop with one of the classes.  The aim was to find out their hopes for the new building.  The older pupils organised a number of activities.  Perhaps not surprisingly the P7s identified the need for good ventilation and heating as well as corridors that were not crowded.  They also thought that there was no need for everyone to have their own locker.  They are keen that there should be no separate social areas for different year groups – they want to be able to mix with all other pupils.  Bright corridors and rooms are also important.  There were interesting discussions on layout of toilets.  This certainly needs more discussion!  There was no demand for hopscotch markings in the playground – although a tennis court would be welcome!  All this information will be fed into the team working on the design.  One wish was for Wifi in the school grounds – now there is a challenge!  The next consultation is at Mosstowie Primary School Fete on Saturday.

Congratulations to the parents, pupils and staff at New Elgin and Greenwards Primary Schools for running two very successful Fetes.  It was good to see both events well supported.  The bacon roll was delicious!  It was also encouraging to meet many people who took the chance to look at the draft plans for the new build and access to the site.  “Cool” was a frequently used expression by many of the youngsters.  However, there were also some very constructive comments that will need to be thought about as the plans develop.  Thank you to everyone who took the time to stop and complete the consultation forms.  The next opportunities to see the plans will be at Mosstowie Primary School Fete on Saturday 22 June (more bacon rolls and ice cream?) and then in Moray College on 24th and 25th.  This latter venue will be open both during the daytime and into the evening.

Don’t forget that as well as enjoying a good day out at the New Elgin Primary School (10.30 – 12.30) or Greenwards Primary School (11.00 – 14.00) Fetes, you will also be able to see some of the draft plans of the new build and access routes.  Both fetes will have plenty of fun activities and stalls.  Your support will be much appreciated.  I look forward to seeing you there.

Click here to see a possible plan of the site

At the consultation displays the public will be able to see some draft plans of what the site of the new building might evetntually be like.  If you click on the above link you will see a copy of the area of the school.  However, it must be stressed that is simply for illustrative purposes to give people an idea of what may happen and what it might be like.  There is a lot of discussion still be held and changes will follow.  If you would like to make a comment, please send it by the 19th July 2013 to: ehsproject@moray.gov.uk

Turn to page 18 of today’s Northern Scot!  There you will find the formal notice from The Moray Council of the consultation “to inform the public about the proposal to erect a new/replacement High School in Elgin…”  On Saturday 8th June everyone is welcome to New Elgin Primary School (10.30-12.30) or Greenwards Primary School (11.00-14.00), on Saturday 22nd June at Mosstowie Primary School (12.00-14.00) or on Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th at Moray College.  There will be a display of plans for the proposed site and other  details of the new build.  Local Authority staff will be present along with representatives from the architects.  Members of the public will be invited to comment on the proposals and identify issues that will need to be considered.  We look forward to seeing you at any of these events.  If you come to any of the displays at the primary schools you will also be able to enjoy their summer fetes/fairs with plenty of bargains to buy and fun activities to sample.  All are strongly recommended!

With the submission of the preplanning application we are entering the first stage of consultation.  The Steering Group has been briefed and Moray Council reps attended the recent meetings of the Elgin Community Council and Elgin South Area Forum.  Next week’s Parents Council will receive a presentation.  After that we hope to have a display at the Greenwards and New Elgin Primary School Fetes/Fairs on the morning of Saturday 8 June.  Do go along to either or both events!  They are very well worth supporting regardless of displays relating to the new EHS building!  We will also do something similar for parents at Mosstowie – the date will be widely publicised.  In addition, it is hoped that there will be a 2 day display at Moray College on 24th and 25th June.  Further details to follow, but we look forward to sharing with everyone some of the initial details of the proposals.  Looking further ahead we hope to have a presentation at the annual EHS Parent Forum scheduled for Tuesday 24th September – when we expect to issue invitations to the parents of all the local schools.

On Friday morning, the representative from JMArchitects gave a presentation to staff as part of the inservice day.  For the first time staff were able to see the initial draft of a possible design for the school.  From this point onwards, we enter into more detailed discussions to see how we can face the challenge of meeting aspirations within the constraints of the tight budget formula.  To the credit of Moray Council, as school staff we are getting an input into the design process, something that happens to a much more limited extent in other Authorities.  The consultation process starts to roll out with a meeting of the Steering Group on Monday, followed on Tuesday evening with a presentation to the South Elgin Forum.  A programme for public consultation should be available in the next few days as well as arrangements for involving EHS and local primary school pupils.

There was good coverage in today’s Press and Journal, and hopefully in tomorrow’s Norther Scot, of the next stage of the project.  The formal planning process has begun.  The timescale allows for everything to be completed in order that the contractors can be on site spring 2014.  We have also started looking at dates before the summer holidays for the public consultation.  More details will be available soon.  Meanwhile, there was another very useful meeting with the architects as we continue to develop the plan of the building itself.