MEMBERS of North Berwick High School Parent Council are calling for "urgent" improvements to the school's sporting facilities.

Parent council member Euan Revell gave a presentation at this month's meeting North Berwick Community Council, during which he showcased a report with many of the group's findings. 

The report, which can be viewed online, concludes that East Lothian Council should urgently improve the basketball hall, improve heating and ventilation, provide a new sports hall, provide a fitness suite and a contingency plans for delivering better facilities if the high school roll expands to more than 1,200 pupils. 

During his presentation, Mr Revell said: "The conclusions made were that the teaching staff are doing an amazing job, the provision falls well short, the gym halls are in really poor quality and there is undoubtedly a lack of quality in the PE experience at the school. 

"Our aim is to provide a new sports hall and it is really, really needed, but we do not believe that the council have the money to fully fund the project." 

Currently, pupils are taught using a mixture of the facilities at the high school and the sports centre, which is located next to the school. 

However, the lack of exclusivity to the sports halls and the gym affects how pupils can use them. For example, on Wednesday mornings and Fridays, there is less access to the badminton courts due to the sports centre's timetable. 

The report, published online by the parent council, reads: "The North Berwick High School Parent Council has become aware of both a possible shortfall in indoor sports facilities and concern regarding the condition of existing facilities in the school, and through this report, aims to highlight areas of the school’s estate that would benefit from improvement.

"This increasing roll is also reflected in the recently completed extension, enabling the school to accommodate a total of 1,200 pupils.

"The need for a four-court sports hall was identified in 2018/19 and provisional plans were drawn up for the school.

"This hall has not been constructed and it is understood there are no current plans for its development.

"In subsequent years, NBHS health and wellbeing team has seen a significant increase in demand for their facilities and a corresponding increase in wear and tear on these spaces.

"Demand on space is such that NBHS increasingly relies on the public Enjoy Leisure facilities to provide an acceptable level of physical education.

"At times, the school has also asked to use Law Primary School facilities, and invited children to play outside in poor weather."

The full report can be viewed here. 

An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: “The report has not been shared with the council, so we are not in a position to comment on its details at this time.”