WATCH: Why is Currie Community High School so special?

The majority of the new Currie Community High School is open in every sense of the word. (Image: GordonTerris/Herald&Times)

What makes this school different from the rest?

One of the most distinguishing features of the new Currie Community High School is the building itself.

Delivered by Edinburgh City Council at a cost of £67 million, the school meets the latest Passivhaus energy standards, which maximise heating and cooling with minimal energy usage. City officials have said that the new multilevel campus can be climate-controlled using only a few domestic boilers. 

As part of the LEIP standards, the project was required to meet specific targets and could qualify for reimbursement from the Scottish Government for doing so:

1. School Condition - The local authority must keep the building in Condition A/B for the 25-year duration of the LEIP funding. 
2. Energy use - Schools aim for an energy use target of between 67-83kWh/m2/pa. Funding for this target is on a sliding scale.
3. Construction Embodied Carbon (CEC) - Phase 3 introduced a CEC target for the construction of the school building. This refers to the amount of carbon emitted during actual construction. Similar to the energy target, funding is based on a sliding scale.

Because Currie Community High School was approved as part of LEIP's first phase in 2019, only the first two targets apply. The Scottish Government has said that it has committed more than £22 million to support the council with the school project.

What are the new opportunities for the community?

Community involvement is built into the structure of the new Currie Community High School. The campus houses a combination of public spaces and areas that are accessible only to pupils and staff, with unimposing security gates separating the two.

Read more:

• What is LEIP and how is it helping build new schools?
• WATCH: Inside Scotland's new state-of-the-art high school
• 'Hard work and dedication' at the heart of Edinburgh schools
• In pictures: First look inside Currie Community High School

The main entrance splits off into three directions: right to the school, straight ahead to the library and sports areas, or left to get a peek at the pool, one of the campus's main highlights.

When asked about their favourite part of the new campus, most Currie Community High School pupils could not help but mention the pool. (Image: GordonTerris/Herald&Times)

Almost every pupil, when asked what their favourite part of the new school was, pointed to the pool. After the pupils and staff have had time to settle in, the pool will be open to the public, along with the library and sports area, through a partnership with Edinburgh Leisure.

All of this is part of the Edinburgh City Council's push to combine resources and facilities, not only in the interest of cost efficiency, but for ease-of-access and, some council representatives hope, to boost the profile of council services by giving residents more reason to come across them.

Pupils have more perks, too

But it is not only the community that is getting added benefits from the new school's community campus. Pupils said that they have new course options because of the facilities on campus. There is a full dance studio, two gyms – with multiple courts for basketball, netball, badminton and more – a recording studio, debate chamber, and stage.

The debating chamber was a popular request for pupils who voiced their opinions on what the new Currie Community High School should include. (Image: GordonTerris/Herald&Times)

Pupils also have new classrooms for cooking, lab sciences, and arts, with a variety of outdoor learning spaces available to them.

This includes a rooftop garden, where geography classes can use technology to envision and map the contours of the surrounding hills, food science classes can grow their own ingredients, and groups can come together for combined lessons.

Staff at Currie Community High School are excited for the new opportunities for collaboration on their campus. The layout allows teachers to come together, either in joint classrooms that can be separated as needed, or in indoor and outdoor communal learning spaces.

Many walls and desks at Currie Community High School are designed for pupils to write on, giving teachers new creative options for lessons and engagement. (Image: GordonTerris/Herald&Times)

The school's physical space is where it shines. Collaboration and pupil expression are cornerstones of the design, complete with walls and desks that can be written on directly and cleaned easily.

Currie Community High School is a community campus by design, and pupils are already exploring ways to give back to their neighbours and make the most of their shared space.