SCHOOL pupils will be able to find out about the birds and the bees – by wandering around the grounds of the new Dunfermline Learning Campus.

As well as a "rain garden" and species-rich meadow to encourage biodiversity, the £220 million project will be growing places with allotments and fruit trees too.

An update on the campus, which will be home to Fife College, St Columba's and Woodmill high schools when it opens in the summer of 2024, outlined its green credentials with everything from bat boxes and bike racks to solar panels and shading.

In a video, Erica Scott, a senior pupil at St Columba's, said: "The grounds will create an environment to improve wellbeing with allotment gardens and fruit trees as well as larger trees providing shade and seating areas.

"Allotments will be built, creating small plots for edible plantings. Food-growing spaces will provide a learning environment where pupils can find out about biodiversity, sustainable development and gain employability skills."

Fellow St Columba's pupil James Fleming added: "A rain garden will run north to south through the site collecting surface water. In combination with a tree avenue will be a green street which will create a connection with the trees and shrubs, providing food and shelter for pollinators and birds.

"There will be extensive areas of species-rich meadow, particularly to embankment slopes, while swift and bat boxes will also be added to the school building."

Environmentally-friendly plans include solar panels on the roof, air source heat pumps and ventilation with heat recovery and shading on the south and east of the building to prevent classrooms becoming too hot.

Both headteachers, Sandy McIntosh at Woodmill and Mick McGee at St Columba's, have also joined the project team on visits to new schools – Bertha Park High in Perth; Castlebrae Community High in Edinburgh; Inverurie Community Campus; Madras College in St Andrews; and Queensferry High School, South Queensferry – to pick up ideas for the Dunfermline campus.

Mr McIntosh said: "We believe the new schools will be the largest Passivhaus building in Europe once completed.

"They are designed to minimise energy consumption and carbon emissions and will include several sustainable features, making the operation of the building low-carbon."

Passivhaus is a German model of energy efficiency which aims to construct buildings with high levels of comfort and very low levels of energy usage for heating and cooling.

Executive director of education at Fife Council, Carrie Lindsay, said: "Sustainability is a key factor in the design and it's been incorporated throughout this build.

"It ranges from the materials used in construction to the heating system and lighting as well as the landscaping to encourage biodiversity."

The update also includes drone footage of the site starting to take shape, with roads, pavements, car parks and bus stances now visible.

She added: "It's an exciting time for Dunfermline and education in Fife. This new campus will be the first of its kind in Scotland and will be an exemplar for others.

The Dunfermline Learning Campus is being built to a higher sustainability standard than any other Fife Council building to date."