Community ActionHopefulEdinburgh22 Oct 20261 min read

Wester Hailes pupils move into a new school beside renewed community facilities

Pupils at Wester Hailes High School in Edinburgh have moved into a new building, bringing four separate teaching blocks together under one roof.

The school, which has capacity for 800 pupils, opened after the October break. Project Scotland reports that its central atrium and smaller retreat spaces give young people more choice about where to work, meet friends or take a breather.

The wider campus also serves neighbours. Edinburgh Leisure says its refurbished facilities reopened this month with step-free access, a Changing Places toilet and a poolpod to help people enter the water. Those practical details can make a local swim or exercise session more accessible.

Three reported campus improvements: learning spaces, step-free leisure access and a poolpod — Reported campus improvements. Diagram: Good News Gilbert, from Project Scotland and Edinburgh Leisure.

The new teaching building was designed to Passivhaus standards, but measured energy savings and learning outcomes have not yet been reported. Further demolition and landscaping are still to come.

For now, the tangible change is a school in use alongside renewed community facilities: a shared place for learning and recreation, with more thought given to different people's needs.