New home identified for £14.7m Livingston school campus

A site in the Craigshill area of Livingston has been earmarked as the new home for Beatlie School Campus.West Lothian Council’s executive team has approved plans to locate the new state-of-the-art £14.7 million school in council-owned land off Grange Road, east of the Xcite Craigswood Leisure Centre.Beatlie provides specialist education for pupils aged three to eighteen with severe and complex support and profound medical needs. The new purpose-built facility will be a centre of excellence for children and young people, providing cutting-edge educational facilities alongside partner health and wrap around support for children and families.The move will be subject to formal education consultation with all stakeholders.The new school is being developed with council investment and additional funding as part of the Scottish Government’s Learning Estate Investment Programme, and is expected to be completed by late 2023.Along with the core education facilities for nursery, primary and secondary pupils, plans for the new school also include a hydrotherapy pool, two general purpose rooms, a life skills area, multi-purpose hall and sensory garden.Plans for the new school will include the most up-to-date assistive technology products which are designed to help facilitate greater independence for wheelchair users to explore their surroundings by increasing, maintaining or improving their functional capabilities.In addition to the education facilities, the new school will have enhanced energy reduction measures and provide parent support facilities, including accommodation for partner agencies and support services including the NHS Child Development Centre (CDC), which currently support pupils throughout West LothianNHS Lothian is contributing around £1.5m to the project cover the cost of the new CDC facility.A formal public consultation on the proposal to relocate Beatlie School to the new purpose-built facility at Craigswood is expected to be approved by education executive later this month.