PUPILS visited the site of the new £40 million Garnock Community Campus and found that the massive construction project is taking shape and is well on target.

The new school is currently being built at Beith Road, Kilbirnie, and is on course to be completed at the end of this year.

The state-of-the-art facility will accommodate pupils from Glengarnock Primary School and Garnock Academy, who are eagerly looking forward to the move.

Garnock Community Campus head teacher, Alan Dick, returned to the site last week to see the latest progress and was accompanied by a group of sixth-year pupils, who are already enjoying the start of a new era by wearing their new Garnock Community Campus uniforms, complete with new ties and school badge designed and chosen by pupils.

Katie Macdonald, Depute Head Girl at Garnock Academy, was looking forward to her new school opening in January 2017. She said: “I’m really excited to be moving in – I actually live across the road so I have been watching the school go up slowly but surely and it’s been amazing seeing the transformation.

“I went on holiday for a couple of weeks and it was amazing to come back and see how quickly it has gone up. I’m really excited about the interactivity that the new classrooms and spaces will offer within the school but a bit annoyed I will only get four months of it before leaving at the end of sixth year.”

Katie’s classmate, Head Girl Alice Gilliland, added: “So far, as we’ve walked through, it’s a really open, light space, with loads of windows letting lots of light in.

“I think it’s going to be a great place to work in and receive an education.”

The school, community and leisure campus will serve the Garnock Valley’s three main towns – Kilbirnie, Beith and Dalry – and bring together pupils who currently attend Garnock Academy, Glengarnock Primary School and Glengarnock Early Years Centre.

As well as providing state-of-the-art educational facilities for pupils, the campus will include a high quality six-lane swimming pool leisure facility, operated by partners KA Leisure, to replace Garnock Pool and a synthetic pitch suitable for rugby and football. The campus also features a number of sports halls.

Head Boy Euan Ferguson said: “I’m looking forward to the new facilities that will be available to all of us, like the swimming pool and the new sports facilities, and I’m also looking forward to the sense of community that can be built, having all the pupils in the one campus from primary through to secondary school. It should be good.”

Jas McNee, Depute Head Boy, added: “It’s really good. It’s clean, it’s fresh, it’s new. It’s a bit of a change and is looking good so far from what I’ve seen.”

The building works, which are being carried out by Kier Construction, are on schedule for completion and handover in December before the school reopens in the new year.

Mr Dick said: “The progress is outstanding. Every time I come to the site, they have progressed a little bit more and it’s really starting to take shape.

“We are on the final push now and talking to the construction company, Kier Construction, they are really pleased with the progress.

“There is a real excitement about the school. A few members of staff and pupils have been up but the closer we get to the handover, the more staff and pupils will get to visit the site. It will really shape the future of the Garnock community over the coming years.”

The pupils will be moving in to the new campus buoyed by the recent exam results which saw Garnock Academy gain its best ever S4 results.

Mr Dick added: “Over recent years, our results have gone from strength to strength. I am delighted for all our Senior Phase Pupils who have been rewarded for their hard work and dedication. The staff have worked tirelessly to ensure all our pupils are prepared for their exams and this has reflected in our results.”