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  • Media articles - 02/03/2004

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    The Scotsman - Website

    Reproduced with kind permission from The Scotsman.

    Parents to fight plans for schools closures

    Report by : Seonag MacKinnon - Education Editor

    Link to The Scotsman's original article.

    PARENTS have vowed to fight controversial plans to close nine primary schools across Midlothian as part of a major shake-up affecting thousands of families.

    The proposal is part of a massive project including plans for 16 new schools.

    Amid angry shouts from the public gallery, council leaders approved the scheme at a hurried meeting at local authority headquarters last week.

    As part of a £50 million public-private partnership scheme, pupils may be moving into seven new buildings as early as 2006.

    A mixed-faith campus for primary children is to be constructed and a further seven new schools under a complex land exchange deal with housing developers working in the authority, which expects to see a population rise of 12 per cent in the next few years.

    Two schools will be funded by a traditional capital borrowing scheme while three existing schools are to be refurbished.

    Five rural primaries are openly designated for closure - Borthwick, Temple, Howgate, Cranston and Cousland - and have pledged to form an action group to fight the plans.

    Additionally, Bryans and Langlaw primaries will be shut and pupils moved into one new school. Eastfield and Ladywood primaries will also be replaced by a single new school.

    Loanhead Primary and St Margaret’s Roman Catholic School will share a campus under the plans, which are about to go out to public consultation.

    Ross Blair, who is on the school board of Temple, said parents disputed the school occupancy levels set out by the council in consultation documents and challenged the proposal to fill half-empty Stobhill with children from the "popular and very good" schools of Temple and Borthwick. He said: "This is not about education. This is an action plan to get money to fund buildings."

    Mr Blair said he was angry that so few councillors turned up for the meeting.

    Sandra Crow, a mother of two boys at Temple primary, said if the proposals go ahead it will have a major impact on the community. She said: "The children will be taken away from their friends and from schools where they receive individual attention to be part of some kind of council experiment.

    "If this goes ahead they have just 80 days left at schools where they are very happy. It makes you really wonder about the authority’s education ideals if they are promoting bigger schools."

    Disputing the council’s claim that the school is not used by community groups, Mrs Crow said that the fight-back is about more than education. "The council is presenting us with no option other than closure.This is the end of the village really."

    A raft of councils have announced school closures and mergers in recent weeks.

    Changing population patterns and varying school reputations have resulted in widely differing occupancy levels.

    In a statement, Midlothian Council said that it needed to take radical action to deal with the backlog in repairs and the pending population growth. "Our community facilities, while continuing to deliver a service to their local area, do not meet the expectations necessary to attract more adults and young people into lifelong learning."

    Disclaimer:
    The supply of this reprint by The Scotsman Publications Ltd does not constitute or imply and endorsement of sponsorship of any product, service, company or organisation. Reprints may not be edited, altered, photocopied, electronically scanned or otherwise dealt in without the written permission. Contact : The Content Syndication Dept, The Scotsman Publications Ltd. Barclay House, 108 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, EH8 8AS, Scotland U.K.


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    Last Updated : 07 August 2004