St Sophia’s Primary time capsule ceremony
A special time capsule ceremony was performed at St Sophia’s Primary where children and young people from all age groups within the school and Early Childhood Centre, led the celebrations.
The time capsule, which was provided by main contractor Flemings, was filled with lots of special memories and interesting facts, including a poster with the names of all the children and young people attending the school, photographs and information about Father Onoyima, and the Nigerian missionaries who are working with the school community.
St Sophia’s is being refurbished to the EnerPHit building standard and will be the first EnerPHit certified school in the UK. It is due to be completed and handed over to the Council next week. The final fitting out work will then take place over the summer with the children and young people returning in August.
Councillor Elaine Cowan, Cabinet Spokesperson for Education, and Children and Young People joined the children and young people and Depute Head Teacher Paul MacConnell at the site with, Councillor Jim McMahon and Councillor Barry Douglas, local elected members Councillor Kevin McMGregor and Councillor Sally Cogley, Linda McAulay-Griffiths, Chief Education Officer and Head of Education; Fr Gabriel Onoyima, former Head Teacher Mrs Lizzie Heron, main contractor Flemings, and the design and delivery team from Property and Facility Management, who are managing the project.
Councillor Cowan said: “It was great to join the children and young people from St Sophia’s for a time capsule ceremony. They were so excited to be on site and see their school almost complete, their enthusiasm was wonderful.
“This project is incredibly innovative and is a first in the UK but first and foremost, it is an investment in the children and young people of the Irvine Valley. As a Council we are committed to ensuring that all our children and young people have the best possible start in life and have the opportunity to learn in an environment that matches the hopes and aspirations of the school community.”
EnerPHit refurbishment transforms the energy efficiency of an existing building, working within the existing footprint and structure. Undertaking a deep retro-fit to an EnerPHit standard also provides the opportunity to rationalise and improve the layout of the existing building to ensure this is fit for modern learning environments.
The project, which has a total capital budget of £5.8m, is being delivered as part of the Scottish Government’s Learning Estate Investment Programme – Phase 2, and is receiving total grant funding support of approximately £4.300m over a 25 year period.