My school assessment: a soul-less building that’s seriously overcrowded

Mar 26 2008

I am a fourth-year pupil attending Calderside Academy and am writing to dispel some of the myths put across in the recent letter to the Advertiser, 'Not yet perfect... but making some excellent progress'.

When I think of the new Calderside Academy building there are three words that come to mind — claustrophobia, rip-off and authoritarian.

At lunch and breaktimes, 1400 pupils are crammed into one small ‘street’ area — basically a glorified corridor. Space is now at such a premium that estate agents have moved in to sell small plots of corridor (I was told last week the market prices are higher than those in Mayfair).

The number of pupils in the area, I believe, presents a fire risk and there are crushes on a regular basis as we move to go to classes (many have been injured).

£28 million of taxpayers’ money has gone into this building — a fine sum that should have bought a fine school. Alas the opposite is true.

Large cracks have started to appear in walls across the school; a pipe has burst, destroying a classroom and the air-conditioning; bell and doors work intermittently. Quite what inspirED (or seemingly more likely Ikea) did with your £28 million I will never know, but I can assure you it has not gone on making a top-quality school.

Add to that the fact there are not enough classrooms for all teachers and a car park with only around 30 spaces, I'm sure you'll agree that Calderside Academy has been an unmitigated waste of money. It’s the Scottish Parliament of Blantyre.

Why authoritarian? I'm not suggesting that the school is some Soviet-bloc state or even a prison, but the rules placed on us are tiresome and over-bearing. Colours are essentially banned. Black jackets, black trousers, black shoes and black jumpers have all being forced upon us by Maggie and her cronies, and hell mend the person who expresses individuality.

Jackets are not allowed to be worn inside at all. Ever. And food brought from outside establishments? That's banned too.

For 6½ hours each day I forget what it’s like to live in a democracy.

The worst thing about Calderside Academy? The crux of the failure of this school? The lack of any real, quantifiable, school community. The very thing that makes a school great — the idea that we are as one, with pride in our school — is non-existent.

School isn't fun anymore, it’s just a big white wart that blots the landscape of Blantyre. Earnock and Blantyre High Schools were always leaders in education; Calderside Academy has returned to old methods of education that were discarded for a reason — quashing personality, removing fun from learning and more rules than there are pupils.

In doing this, the heart and soul have been ripped out of the school. It is now just a building.

Name and address supplied, letter sent by e-mail.