New primary school in Dargavel

Information about the new (additional) primary school to be built in Dargavel Village, including where the new school will be built, when it will be built, what happens next, and how the community can be involved.

On this page:

About the new school

We are building a new primary school in Dargavel Village. The new school will have capacity for 800 pupils and will include a full-size sports pitch and facilities for use by the wider community.

We expect the new school to be open by August 2027, in time for the start of that year's new school term.

The new school will be additional to the existing Dargavel Primary School and is needed to meet future demand as more new houses are built in the area in the years ahead.

We expect there will be capacity between the existing Dargavel and Bishopton primary schools for all the children expected to start school in 2025 and 2026.

The new primary school will be non-denominational. The denominational school for the Dargavel area will continue to be St John Bosco Primary School, in Erskine.

The associated high school for the new primary school will be Park Mains High School.

Where the new school will be built

The new school will be built on land to the north of the new (to-be-built) Western Link Road, shown on the map below.

Dargavel site map - updated July 2024
Map showing Dargavel school sites

Map showing school sites - see larger version of Dargavel map [3MB]

The location and catchment area for the new school were decided after a formal consultation with the community, which ran in early 2024.

You can see the agreed catchment areas for the new and existing primary schools in Dargavel on the map below

Map showing proposed catchment areas for the current and proposed primary schools in Dargavel
Map showing Dargavel catchment areas

Map showing the catchment areas for the current and new primary schools in Dargavel - see larger version of map [2MB]

These new catchment areas will come into effect when the new school opens in 2027. Until then, the existing Dargavel Primary will continue to be the catchment primary school for all of Dargavel Village.

Community engagement and next steps

We are committed to working with the community throughout the design, planning and construction of the new school. This has included:

a detailed space-planning exercise in late 2023, which included a series of focus groups and a community survey, where we asked what people wanted from a new school with community facilities.
the formal consultation on the school's location and catchment in early 2024
a 12-week period of engagement in summer/autumn 2024 in advance of the the full planning application being submitted. This included two public events and a series of focus groups

You can see the designs presented at those events via the link below.

View the designs for the new primary school in Dargavel [7MB]

Feedback from every stage of this process was used to help shape the detailed designs for the school, which have been produced by our architects.

The full planning application for the school was submitted in December 2024. Formal consultation with statutory groups will follow in 2025 before that application is decided.

Parent and carer updates

We are keeping parents and carers updated directly on our work to increase school capacity in Dargavel.

If you would like to receive these updates you can sign-up for our Dargavel community email newsletter.

You can read previous updates we have issued below:

Get in touch

If you have any questions or would like more information on the new primary school in Dargavel, you can contact us via email on dargavelcs@renfrewshire.gov.uk

Renfrewshire Council