Published: Wednesday, 24th June, 2009 2:02pm

Former chief executive marks start of new era

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THE former chief executive of Clackmannanshire Council Dave Jones returned to the Wee County to officially open the new Alloa Academy.

Dave, who retired as chief executive in February, was closely involved in the development of the council"s £60 million plus PPP project to deliver three new secondary schools in his role as CEO and in his previous post as director of services to people.

The Academy"s 840 pupils and 103 staff are now settled into their new building, having moved in February, and are already reaping the benefits of their state of the art surroundings.

The move has seen two schools - Alloa Academy and Fairfield School - join together on one site. Members of the community have also been taking advantage of the new facilities, booking meeting spaces and using the gym and other sports equipment after school hours and at weekends.

The opening ceremony was hosted by Provost Derek Stewart.

He said, 'The new Alloa Academy boasts some exceptional new facilities. The council is committed to providing the best possible education for young people in Clackmannanshire and this new school will help us achieve that.'

To coincide with the move, the school motto has changed from 'Circumspice" to 'Learning to inspire" and launched a new vision statement.

Headteacher Ralph Barker said, 'This school is perfect in every way. As well as being well designed and pleasant to work in, it achieves the purpose for which it was built - to educate the young people of Alloa using the best facilities available in the country.'

The new school boasts specialist science, art, music, ICT and drama classrooms. The indoor sports facilities include a games hall, gymnasium, dance studio, fitness suite and a state of the art PE classroom for high level coaching sessions while the outdoors sports facilities include an artificial football/hockey pitch and a half grass training pitch for rugby and athletics.

There is also an assembly hall with bleacher seating for 286 people. The hall has a theatre-standard stage area with appropriate lighting and sound systems to stage school and community performances.

All these facilities are available for the community to book from 6pm to 10pm, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm on Saturdays and noon to 5pm on Sundays.

The three new academies - Alloa, Alva and Lornshill - have been built by the Clackmannanshire Schools Education Partnership, which includes Bilfinger Berger, Ogilvie Construction and Amey Business Services, with 3D being the architects behind the whole PPP project.