It is clear from our campaign that there is overwhelming support from all over Scotland and beyond, that rural schools provide a good education and are a major focus for rural communities.

Additionally, the rural communities fully support the new school builds and improvement proposals which is part of the the same buildings programme. Every primary school child in Midlothian deserves to receive quality education in their own local community.

We have had support from children, parents, grandparents, ex-pupils, communities in rural AND urban areas, MPs and MSPs from all political parties, local religious leaders, farmers and farmworkers across Midlothian, small businesses, all levels of Midlothian Community Councils, Women's Guild, Nursery and Baby Groups, village hall committees and supporters across the world.

These series of pages cover some of the wealth of evidence and support that has been submitted to the council.

• New : Borthwick submitted this document detailing all the reasons why there is no case for closure.
• Cousland Primary School submitted this document detailing the flaws in the documentation and procedures followed by Midlothian Council.
• Borthwick submitted this document (using the Department of Education's own statistics) to Midlothian Council disproving the rural school education comparisons Donald Mackay presented to the public consultation.
• Temple submitted this document to Midlothian Council. It disproves all of Midlothian Council's justifications for closing Temple Primary School using facts and statements from a variety of sources, including Midlothian Council.

• Religious groups have voiced their concerns, Lothian Presbytery backed the 5 rural schools at their meeting in April and Rev. Graham Leitch discussed the issues in Borthwick Church's newsletter.
• Moorfoot Community Council submitted this letter to Midlothian Council advising of their opposition to the closures.
• The catchment area for Temple Primary School covers 25 square miles and 32 farms, this page explains the impact that these closures will have on the rural economy.
• Midlothian Federation of Community Councils published minutes of their meeting (17 March) and had the following articles appear in The Advertiser : Community councils want to be heard and 'Listen to parents on schools'

• This document was presented to the council at the meeting between representatives of the schools and Midlothian Councillors on 26 April 2004 and details our main concerns.
• This document was present to the council as evidence that the PPP proposals will not work as they stand.

• Rhona Brankin, MSP for Midlothian, sent this letter to Midlothian Council.
• Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, sent this letter to Midlothian Council.
• MSP have been discussing the school closure proposals in The Scottish Parliament, details can be seen on the Politics page.

• In 2002, the Rural Community Network commissioned a Policy Discussion Document from Queen's University Belfast : Small Rural Schools in Northern Ireland. It provides researched information on the importance of small rural schools in the community, the quality of education and details of the economic issues.
• The Scottish Executive published a document that makes several recommendations on tackling poverty and social exclusion in rural areas.