PEEBLES is set to get a new school following the fire that destroyed a large part of the building last year.

The replacement secondary, though, will take at least three years to build.

But according to Scottish Borders Council’s Chief Executive Tracey Logan, it is the only way forward for Peebles High.

Although it is yet to be officially endorsed by the local authority, Ms Logan says her view is that apart from the Sports Complex and Millennium Wing, the entire school will be demolished and rebuilt.

And that Peebles High will jump to the head of the queue in the rebuilding programme of schools - ahead of Galashiels, Hawick and Selkirk.

But the Chief Executive told the town's Community Council she thinks Peebles should now be first on the priority list for a new school.

Ms Logan explained: “At the moment my view is, and this is only my view, this has not even endorsed by the Council as yet, is that given the constraints that we have around what will be available financially, the Scottish Government have been really helpful in that they are offering their full support and we will make a bid late spring for funding through the schools programme.

“There will obviously be a financial settlement from the insurance.

"But we need to find the best way forward, so my expectation is that we will retain the Sports Complex because it is undamaged and pretty new, we will also retain the Millennium Wing because again it’s not that old and is entirely usable.

“I would imagine that we will probably end up taking away everything else and replace it with something new.

"What that will look like, I have no idea. But what it will be is something that is modular that we can add onto if we need to for capacity and we will want to talk to the community about what else we might want to put into that site.”

A consultation will take place asking for local feedback on community space and the possible provision of health and social care.

She added: “Some people have said to me that they want to knock all of the school down including the fairly new bits, realistically that won’t happen and it’s not the right thing to do. I think it’s important that we make sure people understand the parameters within which we are working so we can have some sensible conversations and that we try and accommodate as much as we can in there.”

Meanwhile, a major operation is underway to get the students back to their classrooms at the beginning of February.

The Chief Executive said: “We put in arrangements for 300 plus pupils to be accommodated at locations in Peebles, Galashiels Academy and the Langlee complex.

“That has been generally very successfully and the feedback from that has been positive. I absolutely acknowledge that it’s not perfect but it has done the job we needed it do to.”

Senior students are currently sitting prelim exams in the Sports Complex and this will continue until the end of January.

Temporary classroom units are being erected within the school grounds and pupils are to be accommodated in unaffected areas of the building.

“There are still huge amounts of work going on and we will go right up to the wire but I’m confident we will achieve it,” added Ms Logan.

The Council has decided on a phased approach with S4 to S6 students starting on Monday, February 3 and S1 to S3 working from home and returning the following day.

Ms Logan said that there has been “compromises” in the education offer over the last few weeks but is assuring parents that from the beginning of February it will be “business as usual”.

Demolition work on the damaged building has been completed and restricted access has been implemented.

The council boss has assured parents that children will only be able to access safe routes throughout the school building.

Ms Logan added: “One of the things we did lose in the fire was the vast majority of pupil toilets so what we’ve now got on site is the long term temporary arrangements supplemented over the course of January.”

To ensure pupil safety, traffic will enter the site from a new access via Craigerne Road located at the back of the school.

Ms Logan is meeting with insurers this week to discuss a settlement figure which will help form the direction of the future of Peebles High School.

She added: “All of what we are doing is going to be sustainable for whatever we do in terms of the proper rebuild.

"What I’m trying to reassure you is that we’re not doing things that are very temporary, whatever we do, we will be looking to the future.”

Community councillor Graham Mackie commended the local authority on doing a “remarkable job” and said any criticism of the Council during this trying time was unnecessary.

He said: “It has been thought for several years that we needed a completely new high school but possibly there’s a silver lining here in that we can end up with a high school that will meet the needs of the current population."

But the council chief told members that “essentially this is the replacement”.

She explained: “When it comes to looking at high schools and replacement we would always look to retain what is still workable.

"In the case of the bits we are talking about in terms of Peebles High site they are really not that old. The Millennium Wing meets the standards that would be required in a new building. There would be very little point in wasting money knocking down something that works really well. It will be a modern fit for the future school.”