Parents, carers, staff and other interested parties are all being invited to share their views on options to create a new campus school for Largs which would include education and sports facilities for pupils from nursery right through to sixth year.

North Ayrshire Council launched its early engagement, pre-consultation exercise this week, seeking local people’s comments and suggestions on whether to build a new facility alongside the national sports centre in the town.

The pre-consultation follows a decision by the council’s Cabinet to pursue a proposal in partnership with sportscotland to replace the existing Largs Academy with a modern, fit-for purpose school at the site and to explore options to incorporate the Largs primary schools in a shared campus facility.

This early engagement will help inform and influence the Council in developing more detailed options for further consideration by the cabinet on 23 September.

The intention is that a full statutory public consultation would then take place with all interested parties later in the year.

Letters explaining the background to the pre-consultation process were distributed to all parents and carers via school bag drop on Monday, the first day of the new school term.

The letter states: “We believe that this early engagement process will help determine the best way forward for this unique concept and ensure that the proposed development best meets the needs and wishes of the community.

“You are being invited to share your views, comments and suggestions via a pre-consultation survey which will be issued to all parents and carers within the next few days via the Parent Councils of all the schools involved.” The short survey - also distributed in pupils’ school bags – seeks views on two questions: Whether the Council should develop proposals to replace the existing Largs Academy with a new school located on the grounds of sportscotland’s Inverclyde National Centre,at Burnside Road, Largs KA30 8RW, and Whether the Council should explore the option of including the early years and primary education provision in the Largs area as part of this new development, to create a campus design which includes education and sports facilities to provide for pupils from nursery through to sixth year.

Respondents are invited to answer yes or no to the two questions and also to give any other comments they may have on both questions. They are also asked for any further suggestions they may have on education and sports provision in Largs and on how the Council might best engage with them throughout the consultation process.

Parent Councils at each of the schools will collate the responses to the survey for forwarding to the Council on Wednesday 27 August and, given the tight timescales involved, parents are therefore being urged to return completed survey responses to their Parent Council by Monday 25 August latest.

The pre-consultation process will also include meetings with staff representative groups and other parties, including local community councils who will provide invaluable links with their communities and work in partnership with the Council to ascertain the views of the communities involved at this early stage The unique and ambitious project is subject to the Scottish Futures Trust approving funds and to sportscotland securing additional finance for the redevelopment of the Inverclyde centre to establish it as a world class sporting facility.

Councillor John Bruce, Cabinet Member for Education Attainment and Achievement, said: “The timecales for this ambitious project are tight but we very much appreciate the support of the schools and the local community councils in helping us to achieve early dialogue with those involved.

“The more dialogue we have now, the better we can reflect these views at the next stage – the formal proposal to Cabinet, which will itself be subject to further rigorous statutory consultation.

“By working together, I am confident that we can achieve the top class educational and sporting facilities in Largs which we all aspire to.”