Fairview School Project

Fairview School is a new school for pupils with additional support needs (ASN) which provides a high quality service to support children and young people within the age range of 3 to 18 with complex, multiple and enduring needs in Perth and Kinross. 

The facilities at Fairview include a nursery, 4 primary classrooms and 7 secondary classrooms. There is also a dedicated music and art room, lifeskills room, learning resource centre and ICT suite.  Quiet rooms and tutorial rooms along with a gym hall and warm water pool have also been provided.  The integrated support will enable pupils to have every opportunity to fulfil their individual potential, both academically and personally.

The spacious grounds encourage outdoor learning, which is part of the theme of the Rotary project.  There are 52 pupils in the school from primary through to secondary education.

Our involvement.  Some of our members were involved with the construction of the school.  Ian Inglis, an architect with Perth and Kinross Council and Ben Gunn of Ralph Ogg, surveyors.

There wasn’t enough cash left in the building project to fully landscape the grounds and the Rotary Club of Perth has committed itself to building a sensory garden for the pupils of Fairview School.  The sensory garden will feature the senses of touch, smell, sound, taste.  It would be fair to say that some members were in favour of donating a packet of seeds!  But our member, architect Ian Inglis has designed a stunning garden.

A major feature of the garden was the incorporation of traditional curved stane dykes.  And we were very fortunate the wife of one of our members was involved with the Central Scotland Branch of the Dry Walling Association and they volunteered build these walls.  A massive undertaking for which we are very grateful.

The amount of stone required was considerable.  The dykers needed twice the volume of stones they actually use.  Again, we were very fortunate as one of our members, Alastair Ritche donated the stones and transported it to site. A lot of excavation work was required. Hard landscape finished in early June 2011.  We were running a little behind schedule but tasks are in hand to put up the pergolas, put in the plants and benches. All this was completed in July 2011 and a grand opening planned for August 2011 when the children return to school.

It’s important for the children to enjoy the outdoor environment and so the Rotary Club of Perth has always been willing and continues, now, to support the maintenance of the sensory garden.  Each year members of the Club pick up their gardening tools and make sure that the garden is tidied, repaired and generally well maintained.