Investment in Schools (North Highland)

I, too, congratulate Jamie Stone on securing this very important debate.

Like him, I am appalled at the state of Wick high school.

With my colleagues Peter Peacock and David Stewart, I visited the school not so long ago and found the facilities to be awful.

It was a lovely, dry, sunny day when we visited, but we could not move about during lunch time because of the number of children who were eating their lunches in the dining room, the corridors and anywhere else they could find a space, and as many young people were eating their lunch outside as inside.

Had it been raining, which it is known to do in Wick and Caithness, I do not know how the school would have coped.

The classroom facilities were poor and the sports facilities were falling apart.

As Rob Gibson said, the swimming pool is closed, which has implications not only for pupils but for the wider community.

There is a public swimming pool in Wick, but the one in the school was used by many community groups, including those with vulnerable adults who perhaps do not feel confident about using the public pool.

The fact that it can no longer be used is a concern that has been raised with me.

Pupils and teachers lose out because the school is in poor condition, but so do the wider community.

There were press reports at the weekend that three Highland schools have been given D grades, which means that they are considered to be beyond repair, but there are no plans to replace them.

We urgently need to consider schools such as Caol primary school, which has the renowned room 13 project that is nationally recognised and commended.

How much more could the children involved have achieved if they had been in a building that was fit for purpose?

Lochaber high school in Fort William is another—I could go on because there are many in Highland and, indeed, throughout Scotland.

That is why the Labour Party pledged in its manifesto for the most recent election that we would rebuild every school that needed to be rebuilt.

During the previous Administration, the Labour Party started a huge school building process and we were determined to finish it.

We hoped that the SNP Government would continue that process and match us brick for brick, but it has not done that yet.

I urge it to do so.

As we have heard, Highland Council does not have the funding for such rebuilding, so the Government needs to intervene and help the children of Wick high school.

Letting down any child at such an important stage of their life is letting down one child too many.

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