Portobello High School

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Portobello High School is a large secondary school in Portobello in the east of Edinburgh. With 1297 pupils it is one of the largest state schools in Edinburgh, and Scotland. The headteacher is Ruth McKay.BuildingIn early 2006, the City of Edinburgh Council engaged professional consultants to conduct a feasibility study on possible sites for the redevelopment of Portobello High School. This led to a statutory educational consultation, as well as a public consultation, on three possible options.The resulting report of the consultation was approved by the Council in December 2006. In December 2008 the City of Edinburgh Council committed £41M to the redevelopment of the school on the site identified by the 2006 consultation.A design team was appointed in early 2009 with a Planning Application for the new school made in 2010. Planning permission was granted in early 2011 after an extensive pre-planning consultation programme. On 16 September 2011 Balfour Beatty were announced as the preferred choice to be awarded the contract to build the new school. Balfour Beatty delayed signing the contract until legal action was resolved relating to the place where the school will be built. In September 2012 the Portobello Park Action Group (PPAG) won its case to prevent building a new school on common land in Portobello, a decision which was subsequently overruled by the Scottish Parliament allowing construction of the new school to begin in October 2014. The new school opened in October 2016.In 2012, the roof blew off.The buildings in Duddingston Road were demolished between January and June 2017 in preparation for the construction of a new building for St John's Primary School. Once the new building is occupied, the old St John's will be demolished and the site made into the Treverlen public park to replace the park land used to build the new Portobello High School on Milton Road.