A petition containing more than 5,000 signatures against Midlothian Council's proposed rural school closures has been handed in to the Scottish Parliament.

Two parent representatives from each of the five schools earmarked for closure handed the document to the Parliament's petition committee last Thursday.

Cousland mother Jennifer MacGregor said: "It was a show of concern not only from rural communities but from all over Midlothian."

Meanwhile, Midlothian MSP Rhona Brankin once again raised the issue in the Scottish Parliament.

Speaking at last Thursday's Question Time, Ms Brankin pointed out to Education Minister that there were guidelines in England and Wales against rural school closures.

She said: "The Education, Culture and Sport Committee of the Scottish Parliament published a report in July 2000 that made that point to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and Audit Scotland but very little progress appears to have been made in the intervening period.

"Will the minister address the issue as a matter of urgency, so that no rural school closes unless the closure is clearly in the best interests of educational provision in the area?"

Education Minister Peter Peacock has told Midlothian MSP Rhona Brankin that he wants a new education guide for parents to be produced as soon as possible.

He said: "We have made it clear that we are prepared and want to produce a new guide for parents that stresses what the respective roles of local authorities and ministers are. I will try to move that process along as quickly as I can."

He said local authorities were under a statutory duty to provide adequate education for their area and to comply with the provisions of the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000.

Ms Brankin had earlier joined MSPs Fiona Hyslop (SNP Shadow Education Minister), Colin Fox (SSP) and Lord James Douglas Hamilton (Tory education spokesman) as well as Councillor Sheila Thacker at a forum held at Cousland Village Hall last Wednesday.

More than 100 representatives from the schools affected by the proposals had a chance to raise their concerns.

Charing the meeting, Jennifer MacGregor of Cousland Village Hall Associations said: "I'm delighted that we have cross-party support to fight Midlothian Council's proposals to rid the area of its rural schools. This flies in the face of the council's own Local Plan and sits uncomfortably with wider education and planning policies."

The schools affected by the local authority's proposed education shake-up have all been re-surveyed, it was confirmed this week.

The new study will eliminate some of the inaccuracies carried in the original Midlothian Council report, prepared three years ago. The new findings will be circulated to school boards and made available soon to local communities, through libraries.

Midlothian Council Leader Adam Montgomery said: "Much has been made of the inaccuracies in the original report that was prepared some three years ago.

"Yes, there have been ongoing maintenance carried out in the interim to certain schools, some of these on safety grounds, but the majority of the reports adequately reflect the school condition.

"During the consultation we have responded and corrected inaccuracies and we have just completed a re-survey of every affected school to ensure when the council is asked to come to view in May, it is based on the very latest information available."

Midlothian Council is expected to consider the proposals, which include the closure of five rural schools, in mid-May and Councillor Montgomery has given an assurance that all his colleagues will take on board all representations received from the five public meetings, letters, e-mails and cards. The consultation deadline has been extended to April 30.

"The schools programme has faced the fiercest criticism from the parents affected by the proposed closure of five rural schools.

"From the consultation meetings we have heard eloquent and emotional presentations from parents on the importance of these schools to their community and of the high quality of education their children receive in these small schools.

"That is what the consultation programme is about."

It's business as usual at closure-threatened Temple Primary as far as the local authority is concerned.

Although the school is one of five rural primaries facing a June closure, Midlothian council has advertised for a parental vacancy on the school board.

According to the advert, a by-election, if required, must be held by the end of May with the vacancy filled by the end of June.

Councillor Peter Boyes, cabinet member for education and lifelong learning, explained; "We have advertised this position because we do not know the final outcome of the current pubic consultation on schools in Midlothian and we have a legal obligation under the School Board Scotland Act 1988 to fill any vacancies on school boards within three months".

I am writing to express my disbelief that the consultation process is continuing and that the council still intends to make vital decisions on the life of our schools, based on a proposals document which is laced with factual errors.

These were repeatedly pointed out to the councillors at the consultation meetings. The damning reports on the condition of the rural and some of the other schools' buildings are based on old reports and obsolete data.

We were heartened to hear the council had requested a new survey of properties by Hardies in March 2004. In Borthwick School's case it confirms the roof does not need replaced, only minor repairs and maintenance. Yet we are horrified to find it contains the pre-1999 floor plan and room detail report.

It beggars belief that such a mistake can have been made again, as it totally misrepresents the school. The imaginative remodelling since 1999 has transformed the interior making more effective use of the space and providing a bright, modern and stimulating environment for teaching and learning.

As parents with a knowledge of Borthwick school we were able to detect these errors. But what of the other areas of the proposals? The financial information, the heavy reliance on PPP projects, the population predictions, the predictions of new school building deadlines. Who has all the information necessary to check these areas? With so many errors that we do know of, how can we trust any of the information in the rest of the proposals?

For the sake of our children, future generations of children, our schools' and taxpayers' money, I only hope the councillors have verified for themselves the facts behind every word in the proposals, before they sit in judgement on the life and death of our schools and villages.

Jill Dun
Catcune Farm
Gorebridge

After the recent public consultation meetings held by Midlothian District Council regarding their proposals for primary and nursery education, including the closure of five rural primary schools, the council must now be in no doubt about the feelings of anger and dismay felt by their electorate in the affected communities.

Having attended the three meetings involving the schools under threat of closure, it is very apparent that the only visible support for these closures has come from the council's department of education itself. Not only are the five rural communities against the proposed closures, but at the MSP's and councillors' forum held at Cousland Village Hall last week, full backing was received from a range of MPs.

This is not just an issue for Midlothian, but all of Scotland, as this goes completely against Labour policy on rural education. We hope that this Labour-controlled council will take responsibility for its possible actions in the years to come.

We hear from Midlothian councillors about the success of the new Dalkeith Community Campus school, and the new St Andrew's primary, but we have yet to see any educational evidence of this. The only evidence we have this far is the structural results – that the buildings were successfully completed on time to a budget – and while the council is doubtless to be congratulated on these projects, there is more to education than this.

We hope that in the future these establishments are successful and a credit to Midlothian, but at this point in time we have no evidence whatsoever of any educational attainment.

People should still be given a choice of where they want their children to be educated, a right under the Education Act (12980). However, closure of rural schools would be diminishing, if not removing this right.

Midlothian District Council have an ideal opportunity to work with rural communities to reshape the education proposals, with one of the core elements being the ongoing success of all five rural schools currently threatened with closure, We urge Midlothian Labour council to work with us and re-think this unpopular and unnecessary proposal.

Dr W B Lumsden
1 Hadfast Road
Cousland

Midlothian Council has instructed further structural surveys to be carried out on the five rural schools which face closure. This was after Midlothian Council's initial shambolic and inaccurate report on all those schools.

In the new survey carried out on Cousland School it has been reported that Cousland Primary needs approximately £100,000 spent on it to bring it up to standard, over a period of time.

This is a fraction of the sum the council expects to spend on portable accommodation, if our children are relocated to Woodburn Primary to be educated. Surely it would make sense to carry out these minor repairs, rather than spend senseless amounts on portable accommodation?

Midlothian Council are considering refurbishment of Woodburn School but after hearing the presentation from Woodburn School Board at the recent consultation meeting, this should be instigated as a matter of urgency. These children appear to be being taught in unsuitable conditions.

After being informed by Councillor Margot Russell at an earlier meeting that the land on which Cousland Primary site would go on the open market if the school is closed, we at Cousland can only assume that the proposed closure is to finance the refurbishment of Woodburn primary.

Lesley Lumsden
1 Hadfast Road
Cousland

The great grandson of a former Cousland Primary head teacher has backed the campaign to save the school from closure.

Rob Simpson, who lives in Cincinatti, Ohio, visited Cousland in 1996 with his father and brother to see where their ancestor taught. Mr Simpson was headmaster from the early 1900s until the 1920s.

Cousland resident Alastair Buchanan of Hadfast Road, alerted the Simpsons to Midlothian Council's plans. They have remained friends since the visit eight years ago.

Mr Buchanan added: "As we have discovered over the years, many people revisit Cousland who were connected in some way to the school. Indeed, when I had a business in the Old School we regularly were visited by old students from many parts of the world as far apart as Australia and the Caribbean.

Backing the rural schools campaign, Rob Simpson said: "As someone who has lived his entire life in North America but travelled extensively, I would encourage you to resist the North American tendency to centralise and modernise at every turn. History and a sense of community may not show up on a balance sheet but that does not negate their value.

"If the children of Cousland and other villages in the area are sent to school in Dalkeith, it can only weaken their sense of home and place. Without that they are all the more likely to leave as they grow older.

"So closing the village schools may well be the first step towards the very death of those communities. Look beyond the numbers. Consider the people and a small town way of life that has all but disappeared here in the USA and in Canada - the value of which is beyond calculation.

Lothian Presbytery has joined the fight to keep open five Midlothian rural primary schools.

During April's meeting at St Andrews's High Church in Musselburgh, Presbytery members agreed unanimously to express its "grave concern" over the proposed closures.

In a motion put forward by Rev Graham Leitch – whose Tyne Valley parishes incorporate Cousland, Cranston and Borthwick primaries – Presbytery, while congratulating Midlothian Council's commitment to improve primary education, urged the council to reconsider the proposals, to work with them and to continue rural primary education.

Mr Leitch said Education Director Donald MacKay had confirmed to him he had never received a complaint about the education received at the rural primary schools.

On the lack of gym facilities, Mr Leitch said: "Country children have the world as their gym and I might argue they are healthier than the ones in the towns and cities.

"The council seems blind to the fact that the IT revolution gives them a wonderful opportunity to manage rural schools more efficiently."

Mr Leitch argued the proposal was based on economics not education and added: "Midlothian's healthy schools are being sacrificed to solve the problems of some of its town schools.

"It will rip the heart out of Midlothian's villages and harm Midlothian's rural economy by making it harder to work and live there."

Minister for Howgate, Rev Frank Ribbons, said: "I'm not against the motion in principle but I don't know if I would want to express the concern about it. We need to get our thoughts together on it."

Mr Leitch pointed out that Midlothian Council had given very little time for consultation and said: "Borders has already changed its mind about school closures; I hope Midlothian will change its mind too."