The local authority secondary school in Perth and Kinross, Bertha Park High School lies on Adamson Avenue in the Bertha Park district, 2½ miles (4 km) northwest of the centre of Perth. providing the city with its fifth secondary school. The wedge-shaped building represents the first entirely new school in Scotland for 25 years. It was designed by Glasgow-based NORR Architects and built by Robertson Construction at a cost of £32 million, with funding from the Scottish Government's Schools for the Future initiative.
Classes began on 21th August 2019, with the arrival of the first two year-groups of pupils, but will not reach its full capacity of 1100 for another four years. Second year pupils has spent their first year at Perth Grammar School, while the first year was recruited from the seven feeder primary schools; namely Auchtergaven, Dunbarney, Forgandenny, Logiealmond, Methven, Pitcairn and Ruthvenfield. Bertha Park High School was officially opened on 16th January 2020 by Education Secretary and Deputy First Minister John Swinney (b. 1964).
The building is centred around an impressive wood-lined amphitheatre. Behind are breakout spaces and dining areas, that form a central open-plan spine to the school, which is spanned by bridges, giving access across the void. Above are roof-lights allowing natural daylight to penetrate the interior of the building. To the right of these spaces are a sports hall, smaller games hall and a gym.
The school has several features unique in Perth & Kinross, including 80-minute classes, no school bells and no mobile phones, but Apple iPads for every pupil. The school has also partnered with the software company Microsoft to become a centre of excellence for digital technology.
