Construction is completed on East Lothian’s newest primary school

In March 2019 work began on Letham Mains Primary School with the £8.9 million contract awarded to Morrison Construction. Work was initially due to complete in Summer 2020 but, due to Covid-19 restrictions on construction, the timetable was extended. Planning approval was granted for 809 new homes at Letham Mains in 2015, as well as a sports pitch and changing facilities, leading to the requirement for a new primary school. The project has been funded entirely through developers’ contributions for housing at the Letham Mains area in Haddington. The school’s staff and pupils have been hosted within Haddington Primary School since August 2019. Councillor Shamin Akhtar, cabinet member for education and children’s services said: “I am delighted that construction has completed and Letham Mains Primary officially joins our school estate. The construction environment over the past 10 months has been challenging and it’s a credit to all those involved that they have been able to continue working safely to complete the building. I’d like to congratulate them on their achievements delivering these modern and high quality learning spaces. “Everyone involved in Letham Mains Primary has been looking forward to this move and to continuing their work to establish East Lothian’s newest school within our community. I’d also like to say thank you to everyone at Haddington Primary School for their space and support as the new school was completed.” The council’s teams will now complete internal works including furnishing, IT and setting up spaces ready for the building to be occupied. Pupils and staff are due to move into the building after the February break, subject to Covid-19 advice at the time, with the nursery due to open after the Easter holidays. The new school has 14 classrooms, an early learning and childcare centre, a dining hall, dance space and a two court PE hall with retractable seating for performance and community use. The external areas have been designed for outdoor learning, PE and play. Letham Mains Primary School currently has 32 pupils across its year groups. Head Teacher Bruce Murray and his staff team have worked closely with children and families to develop a supportive school community ahead of the move to the new building. Letham Mains primary school head teacher Bruce Murray said: “We realise just how fortunate we are to be in the position of taking possession of a brand new school. Our pupils, parents and staff have closely followed the building’s progress over the year and we are very excited to be transitioning over. It will be an amazing resource to have and we look forward to embedding the school in the community and growing the Letham Mains ‘family’.” Eddie Robertson, Managing Director for Morrison Construction Building Central, commented: “Everyone involved in the project deserves recognition for coming together to create a fantastic new school despite the ongoing pandemic. “It does feel strange to us all to hand over this school when the children can’t be there in their full numbers, but we look forward to all the children being able to occupy and benefit from the first-class facility the team has provided as soon as possible.” A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription