Plans have been proposed to transform an old prison governor's house into a Muslim primary school that could teach up to 100 pupils.
The proposals aim to turn the former governor's house into a primary school for 75 - 100 children to accommodate Edinburgh's growing Muslim population, according to the new application.
Planning had previously been refused, but Edinburgh-based charity The World Care Foundation, who bought the building last summer, submitted a new application earlier this month.
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The charity wants to open a community building which would be the first ever charity-run private Muslim school, in the Calder Road location. Citing that the Muslim community in the city has grown from 11,000 to 14,000 between 2011 and 2018, they said it is expected to rise and they include statements from parents who would support the community hub.
It would be funded by the monthly fees paid to the school and the charity explains that any additional income needed could be generated from room hire.
In the business plan statement for an ‘EDEN Community and Education Hub’, The World Care Foundation wrote: “The aim of the project is to open a community building hosting a private day school Mondays to Fridays, 8.30am-4.15pm.
"The intention of the project is to open a Muslim primary school, to facilitate the national curriculum for excellence in a way and environment sensitive to the culture and heritage of the pupils and their families. It will foster an ideology of inclusiveness and community while preserving individual identity and self-worth in the children.
"In the future once this project is established, we would be potentially looking to open up a secondary school in an alternative location, to complement the junior school."
Continuing, the World Care Foundation explained in their application that they understood that the project would have a greater need for traffic mitigation. With this, the planning application also includes the creation of an off-road drop-off/pick-up zone, a dedicated cycle store, a staged start if the day to reduce peak flow, incentives for car-pooling and shared transport and for greener modes of transport.
The charity concluded: "The need to open a Muslim primary school in the city of Edinburgh is demonstrated by a Muslim population of over 14,000 (three per cent of the total population). The Muslim population had risen from 11,000 to 14,000 between 2011 and 2018 and this is atrend set to rise. The city has other faith schools but none for the expanding Muslim population. In our market research we discovered a significant desire to establish a Muslim school but also the desire to have it teach the standard curriculum of Scotland."
Comments are open on the planning application until April 1.
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