New Edinburgh high school will keep Castlebrae name after survey of pupils, staff, parents and residents

THE community in Craigmillar has voted to keep the name Castlebrae for the new school due to open next year.

The new Castlebrae is due to be finished by December 2021

In a survey of pupils, staff, parents and residents, 59 per cent were in favour of the existing name with 41 per cent preferring a change.

And in a bid to emphasise the building's role as an "open resource" for the whole community, it will be referred to just as "Castlebrae" without adding "community high school".

Headteacher Norma Prentice welcomed the choice. She said: “It’s really important for the community to have the name they want – and they wanted to keep Castlebrae because of the improvement in the school over the last six years. They felt it now had a positive place in the community which it didn’t previously. I’m really heartened by that. The pupils are very proud of their school and they’re proud of the badge and the colour and the name.”

The school's new science super lab

In the past, Castlebrae struggled with low attendance and poor academic attainment and had been threatened with closure on three occasions.

But in recent years it has doubled its score for academic attainment and has more qualifications on offer.

Ms Prentice said: “There were really not a lot of Higher courses on offer in the school; but now, not only do we have Highers but we’re offering Advanced Highers as well and we have people this year sitting five Highers, which is brilliant.

“And we also cater very well for pupils who struggle to access education – we have a lot of partnerships working with us, including Edinburgh College, Baillie Gifford and Columba 1400, who work to give our children an appropriate curriculum for each individual and engage them in their learning.”

Dining area in the new school

The new school was due to be completed by August 2021 but has been delayed by Covid. Ms Prentice said the latest update was December 2021.

It is being built for 700 pupils but has been designed with the potential to expand to 1200 because of the growing population of the area

“It’s shooting up, it’s looking amazing,” said Ms Prentice.

As well improved facilities for the school, including a science super-lab, there will be community space which can be used for meetings and events during the day as well as outside school hours.

Community space in the new building

Maureen Child, Labour councillor for Portobello/Craigmillar, said she had predicted people would want to keep the name.

"There is a lot of pride locally in Castlebrae. Considering all the brickbats that have been thrown at it, it is a real acolade for the school itself and the surrounding community that the name should be retained for the new building."

And Callum Laidlaw, Tory councillor for the area, agreed. He said: “Many people felt there was so much effort put into saving Castlebrae, I think they felt very proud of that campaign and also proud of the success the school has had in recent years, turning itself around, especially under the current head, and keeping the name was important to them."

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The new school library

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