School estate updates
Thursday 5 March 2026
Johnstone school estate proposals
Dear parent or carer

As you know, Renfrewshire Council is planning major investment in the area’s schools over the years ahead. This includes a redesign of Johnstone’s primary schools, and investment in Johnstone High School. I wanted to give you the latest update on both projects.

This email is going to all parents and carers of pupils at Johnstone High, at one of the town’s seven primary schools (Auchenlodment, Cochrane Castle, Fordbank, St Anthony’s, St David’s, St Margaret’s and Thorn), or council-run nursery classes.

We have also included parents and carers at Kilbarchan, Lochwinnoch and Howwood Primaries, given you are affected by the future of Johnstone High School. No changes are planned for the three village schools.

Councillors will next week meet to consider proposals for the next steps for this work.

Johnstone Primary Schools

Johnstone has seven primary schools, all close by. As it stands, only 68% of the total primary-school capacity in the town is being used  , and our detailed long-term roll projections show this will drop further over the next decade. This means there is overprovision in the town. And three of our schools (Auchenlodment, St Margaret’s and Thorn) have been agreed as priorities in need of investment.
I wrote to you last October, when elected members agreed the principles of a redesign of the Johnstone primary estate, which were:
  • The best location for a new-build school combining one or more of the above;
  • How to best use spare capacity in existing high-quality modern buildings (St Anthony’s, Fordbank and the West Johnstone Joint Campus), and any catchment changes that may require.
We want all Johnstone’s pupils and staff in modern facilities that are fit for 21st-century learning, with fairness of access across the town. We believe the proposed redesign we are now setting out the detail of is the best way to do that.  If agreed, it would see:
  • Cochrane Castle and Fordbank merged into one school in the existing Fordbank building;
  • St David’s and St Margeret’s merged into one school in the West Johnstone Joint Campus building;
  • Auchenlodment and Thorn merged into one school in one of three possible locations (listed below);
  • No changes to St Anthony’s Primary.
The options for the merged Auchenlodment/Thorn all include a combined school with a nursery and community spaces. They are:
  • A new-build school on the current Thorn site;
  • To retrofit and extend the existing Auchenlodment building;
  • A new-build school on the current Auchenlodment site;
  • A new-build school on a new site – the open land at Poplar Avenue.
We would stress these remain proposals at this stage, and all of this will be subject to a future formal consultation. Our next step is to gather initial views from the community on the proposals. This will be a chance to discuss any issues and ensure your questions are answered.

In terms of timescales, no schools would be merged until 2028 at the earliest, and it could be into the early 2030s before any new-build school opens.

We appreciate this could mean a lot of future change but believe the proposals would mean a big improvement on the current estate, better use of existing high-quality buildings, and a better environment for children to learn.

We appreciate the council had previously agreed to build a new Thorn Primary. However, a key principle of our Renfrewshire-wide Learning Estate Strategy – agreed in 2024 – is we can’t look at any school in isolation, which is why councillors instead agreed last year to take forward a new Thorn via a redesign of all Johnstone primaries.

Our latest projections show Thorn Primary is currently less than half-full and forecast to be at 31% capacity by 2038, which is why a like-for-like replacement would not be best value for public money. However – if the proposals above are agreed – whatever site is chosen for the combined Thorn/Auchenlodment, pupils from both areas will be learning in a new-build school.

Johnstone High School 

We have already agreed Johnstone High School as a priority for investment, and in my last email we let you know we had identified three routes for this – to retrofit the existing building, build a new school on the same site, or build a new school on a new site.

The work we’ve done so far shows all these options are possible, and we will continue to develop them further to find the best one to meet current and future need. While we know the current site is in a good central location, both options for it also have logistical challenges which we will do more work to develop solutions for.

If we were to move from the current site and build a new school elsewhere, we have identified a location where this could be possible – the Beith Road Playing Fields (at the south-west edge of the town).

Our next steps will be to investigate all options further, while gathering views from the community. If the school was moving to a new site, this would then be subject to formal consultation.

Next steps

Our Learning Strategy will see the biggest-ever investment to transform Renfrewshire schools for future generations. Every project is being delivered through a detailed business case process, designed to explore all options, and find the best way ahead for our communities.

We have today published Outline Business Cases for the Johnstone Primary Estate and Johnstone High. These go into much more detail, including sites we considered and ruled out, and why. You can read them below.
Read the full Outline Business Cases
Members of the council’s Education and Children’s Services Policy Board will consider these when they meet on Thursday 12 March. If they agree the proposals listed above should be taken forward, we will develop a full business case for each option by early 2027. By then, we expect to recommend a single preferred option for both projects.

It is important to us whatever we do next is informed by the views of our school communities. Over the coming months we will engage parents, staff, pupils and wider communities to capture these, and will be in touch soon with details of how you can be involved.

The full business cases will include more detailed financial costs, and technical work such as ground investigation and transport studies. This means our preferred option will be informed by detailed and robust analysis – but also by a clear idea of what the local community thinks.

Any proposed school moves or catchment changes would then go to a formal consultation with the entire community, potentially later in 2027. Only after that would a final decision be made. Given the time involved, it could be into the early 2030s by the time any new school is built and open.

Kind regards
Gerard McLaughlin
Head of Education
Renfrewshire Council
Online services and MyAccount, customer services, appointments at Renfrewshire House, how to make a complaint, compliment or suggestion. 

Education updates

Renfrewshire Council, Paisley, PA1 3EU

Unsubscribe