Madras College Seeks Council Expansion Approval

The St Andrews secondary school, Madras College, has applied to Fife Council for approval to expand its main school building due to student overpopulation. 

The current Madras College building, moved to Bell Brae from its former location on South Street, was opened in 2021 despite Council knowledge that the student population would likely outgrow the building by 2024.

The Madras College building has a capacity of 1,450 students. This was breached this year, as the College saw the enrollment of 1,469 pupils for the 2025-26 school year according to the Scottish Government’s School Estate Statistics (SGSES), putting the institution at 101.3% capacity. The SGSES explains that they measure school capacity by “how many pupils can be taught in a school based on the number and size of teaching spaces available. It is not a measure of the size of a school building.”

Speaking to The Courier in September 2022, the Fife Council Head of Education Shelagh McLean explained that the council knew Madras College would shortly breach capacity, but they took certain measures to simplify the future expansion process. These included “building the school to ensure that the core facilities — dining, services — were able to cope with a larger school roll should that be required.” This also involved intelligent building design that would make its expansion “most effective” with the “least disruption” possible. McLean was referring to Madras’s inner courtyard, originally designed to be easily converted into classrooms through the construction of new walls.

McLean further explained that the building’s design was intended for a smaller student population, before the residential developments of St Andrews West and Guardbridge were factored in, as these developments were not officially confirmed during the current Madras College’s construction. 

Fife Council decided against building an oversized school upfront, opting instead to allow for future expansion. It required housing developers to enter into planning obligations, ensuring they financially contribute to local infrastructure costs such as schools.

While there are hopes for the construction to begin next year, Fife Council only received the application from Madras for the official building warrant on 3 October 2025. 

The application states that the planned changes involve converting existing rooms into classrooms by removing walls and doors, as well as constructing “infill” or exterior walls in the building’s undercroft to create additional classroom space. The planned cost of the expansion is £1,225,000 according to the initial application.

Fife Council told The Saint: “We are currently developing a plan to expand the capacity at Madras College to accommodate projected pupil numbers as a result of new houses being built within the catchment area. Further information will be shared in the coming months.”

Image by Abbie Arkless