Official Opening of Harris Academy - This is Their New Beginning

Earlier today I attended the official opening of Harris Academy. The ceremony was led by senior pupils from the school and the unveiling of a commorative plaque was undertaken by John Swinney MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills.

We were piped into the school and also enjoyed several well chosen and beautifully performed musical pieces by the school orchestra and bands. I was particularly impressed by Beth Wood, a senior pupil, and her song "New Beginnings". She had recorded her song and it was used as the soundtrack for the video tour of the school. Beth's chorus line "This is our new building, this is our new beginning" struck just the right chord.

It was clear from staff and pupils who worked through the three year decant to Rockwell that they were relieved to be back on the Perth Road enjoying their new school buildings and facilities. 

My only regret is that, from the feasability study completed in March 2009 that I had instructed in my time as Education Convener, it has taken seven years to realise our ambitions for a new Harris Academy. It is clear, however, that Councillors made the right decision to rebuild the school from scratch rather than refurbish the existing buildings from the 1930's and 1960's.

Official Opening of the Upgraded Coastal Pathway in Broughty Ferry - Good Job!

On Wednesday I attended the official opening of the upgraded section of the coastal pathway that runs between Grassy Beach and Douglas Terrace. This marks the final stage of a ten year project to refurbish and improve the coastal pathway between the Stannergate and Douglas Terrace in Broughty Ferry. This has local and wider significance.

For local people, this pathway is valued for walking, cycling and dog walking while folk enjoy the pleasures of river views and segregation from motor traffic. It is also a part of the Dundee green circular and a route into the city centre for those commuting by bike. Additionally, the extra width of this latest section of the pathway will make it easier for the sailors to manoeuvre their sailing craft on their trailers between the roadway at Douglas Terrace and their boat sheds and slipways at Grassy Beach.

Our coastal pathway is also an integral part of the National Cycling Route One between Dover in Kent and Shetland. These onward connections mean that cyclists can for example ride most of the way to Arbroath off road and on quiet back roads.

Interestingly, in this centenary year of Broughty Ferry becoming part of Dundee, one of the promised benefits from this merger was an improvement in roads and paths between Broughty Ferry and Dundee which led to the original raised pathway being built along the shore. That this was a possibility was also testament to the foresight of the former Broughty Ferry Town Council that in 1901 secured the foreshore at the Grassy Beach in West Ferry for an annual feu of £25.

Hopefully the public investment in the upgrading work from one end to the other, will have secured this important community asset for many years to come.

Thanks are deserved to Sustrans the national sustainable transport charity that were major funders and the Council's Transportation staff. The work force of Kilmac, the contractors, also deserve praise for ingeniously keeping the pathway open while they undertook the upgrading work apart from a few days when a period of temporary closure could not be avoided.

Good job!

Ballumbie Primary School is Blooming Marvellous

I attended the official opening of Ballumbie Primary School on Thursday morning. This event provided a wonderful demonstration of the creativity and learning of the pupils in their new school. Whether they were performing in unison when the choir sang or the percussion group drummed, or solo singling, playing violin, highland dancing or reciting poetry; their performances were confident and warmly appreciated by the invited audience.

My highlight of the morning was the Choir's opening number, 'Don't Stop Us Now'.


"Don't stop us now We're having such a good time
We're having a ball don't stop us now
If you wanna have a good time just give us a call
Don't stop us now ('Cause we're having a good time)
Don't stop us now (Yes we're having a good time)
We don't want to stop at all" 
(after Freddie Mercury)

The optimistic message of the Choir's adaptation of Queen's hit song summed up the school's and children's aspirations. As the children sang, I thought it also presented Parents and Carers, Councillors and Education Managers with a challenge to provide the conditions that will enable our children to flourish and not to rein in their aspirations. Now we have made the long term investment in this new school, it is important that the year to year money for teachers and other staff is maintained so that the Primary pupils at Ballumbie Primary School can make the most of the learning possibilities that this new school building provides.

North East Labour Councillor Brian Gordon, said:
I am proud to have been one of Councillors in Dundee who initiated the process that led to the merger of Newfields and Whitfield Primary Schools and the Whitfield Community Nursery and its replacement with this fine new school, community nursery and community wing. This new school building is a step forward for the education of our children and also a bold statement of commitment to the continuing regeneration of Whitfield.

Grove Pupils Impress at Official Opening

Yesterday the new Grove Academy school buildings were officially opened by First Minister, Alex Salmond. While the new facilities are superb, the outstanding impressions from my afternoon in the school were from the pupils. The quality of their singing, dancing and instrumental performances during the opening ceremony were exceptional. The volume of pupils who performed, demonstrated the strength in depth of pupil talents and the continuing excellence of the Music Department in the school and the quality of the visiting instrumental teachers. The three sixth formers that showed our party around their new school were intelligent, engaging and well informed. Head Teacher, John Hunter, delivered an impressive address. He acknowledged that working through the school's refurbishment had been, at times, frustrating but Grove now had 21st century facilities. He had anticipated that it would be a challenge to maintain the school's SQA examination results with the accompanying distractions from the adjacent building works during the construction phase. In fact, the school had improved its exam results during the last two academic sessions. He thought that the challenge now would be to capitalise on the excellent new facilities for teaching and learning and continue the upward trend of pupil attainment.