FINANCE SECRETARY SEES NEW BALDRAGON NEAR COMPLETION

Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution Derek Mackay was given a guided tour of the replacement for Baldragon Academy as the £28.7 million project nears completion. Dundee City Council leader Councillor John Alexander and children and families service convener Councillor Gregor Murray joined with head teacher Kenny Hearn and senior pupils to mark the occasion. Pupils will move into the new Baldragon Academy in February next year in a move that will complete an educational campus for the area. This includes the already-opened £8.1 million replacement for Sidlaw View Primary School and Jessie Porter Nursery. Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said: “Investment in education is an investment in the future of Scotland’s young people and the Government is delighted to have contributed £19.5m through Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme towards these new state of the art facilities at Baldragon Academy. This fantastic new school will provide pupils with the environment and equipment necessary to reach their potential and realise their ambitions. “Closing the attainment gap and improving education remains our number one priority and our focus to ensure every child, no matter their circumstances, has an equal chance to succeed is unwavering. “We can only prioritise education and ensure our schools have the funding they need to deliver these ambitions if Scotland’s budget is protected. The Autumn Budget is an opportunity for the UK Government to ensure we get our fair share of funding to deal with the continued economic uncertainty caused by impending Brexit and meet the pressures our public services are facing as a result.” Councillor Alexander said: “This impressive replacement for Baldragon Academy shows how we are investing for the future of our young people through an ambitious building programme “The new school will provide state of the art facilities to meet the opportunities and challenges that our pupils will face in the years ahead. This is yet another major enhancement of learning and teaching facilities across the city.” Councillor Murray added: “This new educational campus is a huge leap forward in terms of the quality of local school buildings and it will provide an inspirational learning environment.” The project is being led by hub East Central Scotland in partnership with Dundee City Council, Scottish Futures Trust and Robertson Tayside. hub East Central Scotland is managing the delivery of the project from initial design to completion and its Chief Executive, Gary Bushnell, said: ”We have made excellent progress on the project and look forward to handing over another school building in Dundee very soon that is of the highest quality and built to specifically meet the needs of pupils, staff and the local community.” Kevin Dickson, managing director, Robertson Tayside, said: “Working on the new Baldragon Academy has been a pleasure for the whole Robertson team and you can feel the excitement growing in the community as we near completion. The shared campus is state-of-the-art and I have no doubt it will be embraced by both pupils and staff. As a modern learning environment, it will have few rivals and I am sure it will serve many generations to come.”