New £2.9m Kirkliston Primary School annexe for early learning and P1 to be built at Kirkliston Leisure Centre

An impression of the new Kirliston Primary School annexe

Pressures on pupil numbers at an Edinburgh primary school are so high that councillors have agreed to build a new multi-million-pound overspill annexe in a leisure centre half a mile away.

Edinburgh City Council believes the move is necessary to support the 'extremely high' rising number of pupils at the school.

No changes to primary or secondary school catchment zones will occur as a result of the annexe.

High demand for places at Kirkliston Primary School have been attributed to “plan-led housing growth across the village” which has “exceeded projected pupil generation assumptions.”

Council projections suggest the new early years centre could open as early as January 2022, with the P1 building ready in August 2022, subject to the continued easing of lockdown and obtainment of necessary consents.

Construction costs for just the early learning centre and P1 classrooms are estimated to be £2.9 million, however final building designs are yet to be completed.

Councillors voted unanimously to approve establishing the annexe at a Policy and Sustainability Committee meeting.

Kirkliston Primary School is said to be supportive of the move and a full consultation with parents and other key stakeholders has already taken place.

A council planner said: “The school are very supportive of the annexe and can see it will working very well. The pressures at Kirkliston Primary School at the moment mean that senior classes are making use of the gym hall at the leisure centre – so there’s already a connection to that site.

“Projections for Kirkliston are extremely high, which suggests that the school does need this expansion. One of the things we’ve wanted to do, and are looking at doing, is providing greater flexibility, because there is a degree of uncertainty about the number of pupils that come forward from housing and the numbers that may come forward from housing in the future. That’s why the proposal is that in the first instance we construct the early years centre and the P1 classrooms, but have a second phase where a P2 extension could be built in the future if required.

"We certainly see this as a permanent solution and what came back from our consultation is that there was no desire within the community split that community out the catchment area. In the future if other housing comes forward then that would be something we assess as the city plan comes forward.”

Conservative Cllr Graham Hutchinson told the Policy and Sustainability Committee meeting: "For some time discussions have been taking place and this proposal has come forward, in my opinion, because of the complete lack of foresight in planning for Kirkliston over a number of years. As such we’ve been left in a position where we are having to be reactionary and I'm satisfied following the discussions that I have had that this is now our only option. It’s far from ideal in terms of forward planning..."