This shows our ambitions for Glasgow's children who deserve to be educated in buildings that are fit for purpose, and which allow them to achieve their potential.

So I'm delighted that we're now delivering on this pledge.

This week I announced details of the first schools and nurseries that will benefit.

This announcement is only the beginning.

Over the next five years we will invest more than £250million in an unprecedented refurbishment programme for our schools that will benefit all Glasgow's primary and ASL schools.

This investment will have an immediate impact and will significantly improve the quality of the learning and teaching areas.

Education and jobs are both top priorities of this council and we will deliver on them.

This investment programme will not only benefit children across Glasgow, it will also provide a significant boost to the local economy.

It will create and sustain jobs and apprenticeships and support the construction industry in Glasgow during these difficult economic times.

More than £40m of refurbishment work will be carried out in the first year of our ambitious plan that will see refurbishment work start for some schools as early as next month.

Over recent months, my Labour councillor colleagues have been listening to the views of local parent councils in their wards and their opinions have helped to inform our plans.

My colleague Councillor Stephen Curran, Executive Member for Education and Young People, has also been working hard to develop these proposals and has been visiting schools across the city.

Glasgow has a proud track record of investing to provide schools that are fit for purpose – over the last 12 years the Council has spent £550m on school buildings resulting in more than 100 new learning establishments in the city.

No other local authority in Scotland has undertaken as ambitious a capital investment programme in their schools.

To put this in perspective, in the six years since the SNP was elected to govern at Holyrood, the Scottish Government's Scottish Future's Trust has provided a total of £2.8m of investment for Glasgow's school estate.

That was less than one third of the cost for one school rebuilding project. I welcome even this limited amount of funding from the Scottish Government.

But let's be clear, Glasgow City Council won't show such limited ambition.

The people of Glasgow have shown their support for Labour's plans to refurbish or rebuild all of the city's primary and ASL schools.

This week we have made the first announcement, and there will be more to come.