Renfrewshire Council has unveiled ambitious proposals for a comprehensive redesign of its school estate, addressing critical issues such as overcrowding, aging infrastructure, and underutilized modern facilities. These plans, slated for consideration by councillors at this week’s education and children’s services policy board, aim to ensure high-quality learning environments for current and future generations of pupils.

Among the most significant proposals is the creation of a new joint campus for Trinity High School and Renfrew High School. The need for this arises from a projected increase of 200 pupils at Trinity High over the next decade, rendering its current Glebe Street site too small for either an extension or a new standalone school. Consequently, the council is exploring the possibility of constructing this joint campus on the King George V playing fields, forming part of a broader initiative to identify suitable sites within Trinity High’s existing catchment area.

Councillor John Shaw, representing Renfrew North and Braehead, expressed strong support for the joint campus concept, highlighting its potential to deliver enhanced educational and community facilities, ensure value for money, and promote long-term sustainability for Renfrew. He emphasized the critical importance of a clear strategy for repurposing the land currently occupied by Renfrew High, ideally integrated into a wider playing fields and community sports plan. Councillor Shaw also stressed that extensive consultation with local residents, pupils, staff, community groups, and playing field users is absolutely essential at every stage before any final decision is made, ensuring the community's voice remains central to this significant opportunity.

Parallel to the Renfrew proposals, the future of Johnstone High School is also under review, with three viable options presented: a refurbishment of the existing building, the construction of a new school on the current site, or relocating to an entirely new site. Councillor Gillian Graham, Labour’s spokesperson for education, reiterated that a new-build Johnstone High School is "long overdue," advocating for pupil, parent, and staff input at the earliest stages of planning.

Furthermore, officials have confirmed plans for a joint campus within the Johnstone primary estate. This decision follows the pausing of a new-build Thorn Primary School last year, due to updated figures indicating a substantial 68 percent plummet in school rolls across Johnstone over the next decade. The council intends to redesign the primary estate to optimize existing capacity, proposing that more than one existing school would be combined into a new-build facility. While Thorn, Auchenlodment, and St Margaret’s primaries are identified as older buildings requiring investment, other modern buildings in Johnstone are currently underutilized.

Councillor Emma Rodden, convener of the education and children’s services policy board, underscored the council's commitment to delivering the "biggest-ever investment" in Renfrewshire’s schools. She affirmed that a thorough process is underway to evaluate all options for each priority school, ensuring the best value for this investment. Rodden explained that changes to Johnstone’s primary set-up are necessary to better utilize existing spare capacity, emphasizing a holistic approach rather than considering any school in isolation. The ultimate goal is to provide all Johnstone pupils and staff with high-quality buildings and modern facilities that also serve the wider community, with numerous pathways being explored to achieve this.

Rodden also acknowledged that the implementation of these significant changes will take time, with existing buildings meticulously maintained in the interim. The entire process involves detailed business cases, with shortlists of specific options expected by early 2026, and a single preferred option for each area by early 2027. This will be followed by statutory consultations with affected communities, with new projects potentially seeing completion by 2030 or even beyond. Engagement with parent-council representatives has already commenced, and a survey was issued last month to parents and staff to gather initial perspectives on future investment priorities, reinforcing the council's community-centric approach.

Looking ahead, an additional eight schools previously identified as priorities—Castlehead High, St Catherine’s, Gallowhill, St Peter’s, West, Heriot, Brediland, and Bridge of Weir primaries—are scheduled to undergo their business-case processes starting next year, indicating a sustained commitment to modernizing the entire Renfrewshire school estate.