Campaigners against Midlothian rural school closures will take to the streets of Dalkeith tomorrow (Friday), before handing in a petition to the council headquarters.

The march will begin outside Dalkeith Country Park at 2pm and proceed to King's Park via Midlothian House. Provost Sam Campbell has been invited to receive a copy of the petition – containing over 5000 signatures – which was recently presented to the Scottish Parliament. The document is due to be discussed by the parliament's petitions committee on Monday. It asks the parliament to urge the Scottish Executive to ensure that any financial proposal by a council for new school projects will not in principle include rural school closures.

A feature about the proposed closure of Cranston Primary will be aired on Scottish Television's Politics Now programme tonight (Thursday). Borthwick, temple, Cousland and Howgate schools also face the axe.

Cranston parents Karen Beggs and Jo Church-Olney will present the show's Pressure Point segment from the school grounds. Karen told producers: "Closing schools like Cranston would not only affect the children who attend them and their families, but would tear the heart of the communities of which they are a living, breathing part."

The council's consultation period ends on Friday April 30.

Amid speculation that at least two rural schools will close this summer, Midlothian Council has refused to be drawn into the rumour mill.

Peter Boyes, cabinet member for education and lifelong learning, said: "The Midlothian schools' consultation process is still ongoing and will conclude at the end of the month.

"It is only at this point that the elected council members will make a final decision."

Midlothian Council have been warned to expect a lot of heartbreak if controversial plans to close rural schools in the county are given the go-ahead.

Community leaders in Dalkeith urged local councillors at their meeting last week: listen to the parents, they know what's best for their children.

Dalkeith Community Council feel there must be a better option for the local authority rather than closing five rural schools.

The plans include closing Cousland Primary with pupils transferring to Woodburn Primary, which is to be refurbished.

If the proposals are agreed, a new primary school will be built at the Campus with children from the rural school being transferred there.

Thornybank Nursery will be closed and the nursery school incorporated into Woodburn Primary.

Community council chairwoman, Ann Stewart-Kmicha said: "Parents are very concerned about what might be happening. I think there are going to be major problems.

"There is nothing wrong at looking at better education in Midlothian but there must be other ways rather than closing five rural schools. The knock-on effect is going to be terrible."

Vice-chair Owen Murphy added: "The rural schools are the reason many families moved to those areas. The schools are adequate.

"I can't understand why £250,000 would be spent putting the children in portable cabins when there is nothing wrong with the school buildings they are in."

Mrs Stewart-Kmicha said: "To move children into a school for two years and then move them again is very unsettling."

Community councillor John Barr said: "There are major concerns for children and parents. I pray that the council listen. I don't see what they will achieve, except a lot of heartbreak.

Councillors remained tight-lipped during the discussion but assured the community councillors that they are listening to what their constituents have to say and they will be taking part in the final decision.

With the end of the consultation period in school closures approaching, the council will be fully aware by now of the opposition from all quarters to the proposals. The calls for the council to have a rethink extend beyond the confines of the communities directly involved as witnessed by the petition presented to the council. There is even cross-party unity in opposing the proposals in the Scottish Parliament.

So will the council's decision reflect the wishes of the electorate or not? If the strength of feelings expressed by the communities and the constructive arguments presented against the closures are taken account of then surely these proposals should be withdrawn.

There can be little doubt now that these proposals are ill-conceived and founded on inaccurate information and assumptions. The assumption that children in town schools have an educational advantage over those in rural schools and they experience less difficulty in the transition to secondary education is not based on facts.

There has been no evidence presented by teaching staff, past and present, of the country's secondary schools to support those assertions, nor from any other quarter in the UK. Had there been, parents would have been campaigning for improvements in rural schools long before now.

Regarding the physical deficiencies of the school buildings, little needs to be said since we now know the council's report was based on an out-of-date survey and that many of the defects have since been rectified. The cost of the remaining work will be significantly less therefore.

All buildings, old and new, require maintenance programmes and many require alterations to meet changes in use or improved standards throughout their lifetime. It should not therefore be beyond the capabilities of the council, given the will, to execute such changes at reasonable cost.

Turning to the issue of the special place a school holds in a rural community, it beggars belief that some council officers assert that the closure of these schools will have little or no effect on the communities.

For years, as rural school after rural school in the UK were closed, evidence was accumulating that such closures were causing irreparable damage to their communities. Hence the introduction in England of the requirement that there be a presumption against rural school closures.

It is beholden on all our councillors therefore to take note of the part our schools play in keeping our communities alive. Here in Cousland the school is an integral part of a very active and caring community which undertakes many projects in the village which elsewhere in the county would be considered as the responsibility of the council.

But we believe in working in partnership with the council and in self reliance. Closure of the school would put at risk that degree of co-operation and community involvements, as has happened elsewhere.

Over the [past weeks our small rural communities have been placed under immense strain over the threat to the schools, with parents, children and many others suffering distress. We deserved better than this from our elected representatives.

Considerable time, effort and expense have been expended by the communities in defence of the schools. We did not have salaried staff to prepare and argue our case; instead the burden fell on residents, most of whom are in full-time employment.

Consequently the additional workload has affected preparations for other village events, eg, galas, outings etc.

In these times when it is common to bemoan the apathy of the electorate, the loss of community spirit and civic pride, the widespread opposition from the rural communities should not be seen as a threat by the councillors but as a demonstration of the communities involvement and commitment.

It is the responsibility of the council to acknowledge and cultivate such virtues by collaborating with us at community level, to retain and develop our rural schools. Does the council have the will and the courage to shelve these proposals and accept the offer to work with us, as we in Cousland have done on many other projects, in the past. We sincerely hope so.

Mr J W Cardow
Mrs W V MacKenzie
Hadfast Road
Cousland

We all went to Borthwick Primary School and now have moved on to secondary school.

Donald Mackay has claimed that children from small rural schools don't get on as well when they go to high school as children who have gone to bigger primary schools. This is not true, and we feel angry that he is saying this.

When we were in P6 and P7 the teachers encouraged us to help them by giving us some jobs to do like organising the library and editing, collecting and writing articles for the school newsletter.

As there were only about 10 of us we all got to take part in this together and work as a team. We got to know everyone really well and had to work well with everyone.

It meant we learnt how to get along with everyone, even if they were not our best friends.

We were also involved in ordering stuff for the school and playground. We would organise the younger children in voting for what we would use the computer vouchers for. We also helped with the younger children at lunch and break times.

At the time it just seemed normal and good fun, and we looked forward to it because we had seen the P6's and P7's doing it when were younger in the same class. But now we can see how it got us used to taking responsibility for ourselves and others, and having confidence in what we could do together and on our own.

It also gave us the chance to work with everyone in the school from P1 to the school secretary, dinner ladies and teachers.

Borthwick Primary School gave us a lot of self-confidence and made us enjoy school and look forward to moving on to a high school.

Even though we have left Borthwick we would hate to see it shut. We want our brothers, sisters and friends to have their own small school like we did.

Oliver Pemberton
Adam Boyd
Greg Stevens
Stuart Dun
North Middleton

As a concerned parent, very much against the proposed closure of Temple Primary School (and the other rural schools), I have been doing my best to communicate with the council by attending surgeries, writing letters and attending the consultation meeting at Greenhall. I, along with all other members of the Midlothian Rural Schools Action Group, have tried to remain calm in the face of the apparent lack of interest in our point of view from some (not all) of Midlothian's councillors.

During the consultation meeting at Greenhall, Councillor Adam Montgomery rightly requested that no personal attacks be made towards councillors and officers. I would have expected that the same courtesy would be extended towards comments regarding the schools that we hold dear. I was therefore flabbergasted when last week, one councillor informed me that, following several councillors making a tour of the rural schools during the Easter break, "Temple School was the worst – it was all up and down and smelly".

Having now had a chance to recover from my surprise and dismay at this insulting comment I am attempting to understand just what was meant by this:

I guess that by "up and down" the councillor may have felt that some parts of the school may present problems with wheelchair access. In the Council's latest survey report compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act was not a major issue and £1,500 was included for ramps.

As for "smelly" – I believe that the last event held inside the school before the break was a hard-earned picnic lunch eaten in the hall after a busy morning cleaning up the garden and planting trees. Since the school has been closed for over 2 weeks then obviously there would not be much ventilation – hardly grounds for closing the school!

If this (along with Councillor Boyes' unwarranted attack on Rhona Brankin last week), is the kind of considered response that we can expect from members of the cabinet who will be voting upon the closure proposals, then my faith in their unbiased and informed judgment has certainly been given a further knock.

I know that some of the councillors have already visited the schools during term-time and hope that all of them will take the time to do this. As we all know, visiting an empty building is never the same as meeting the people, teachers and pupils who help create the reassuring and stimulating educational environment we are trying to preserve.

Coline Hyslop
Esperston Farm Cottages
Temple

With only a few days left of the short so-called consultation process to go, can we see clearly what the people of rural Midlothian who will be affected by the school closures want from their education authority?

Yes we can.

Just take a look at the website www.mrsag.co.uk to see the huge effort and energy being expended by everyday country folk in the effort to stop the big brother machine destroying a traditional part of our education heritage that has been proved to work, is working well (the director of education himself has admitted that no complaint has ever been received from any parent as to the standard of education presently being offered) and can continue to work well for children who benefit greatly from schooling provided as an integral part of their own community.

Rural Midlothian talks of little else these days and spare time is filled attending council meetings, action groups and events to keep the profile in the public eye.

Does anyone actively campaign for the closures? Outside education and council members, I think not. The five schools under threat hold communities together, encourage families to move into and stay in rural communities. Take the school away and the whole structure changes, not for the better.

Robert Pollok
Cleuch Road
North Middleton

Sir, — I am writing in response to your article of April 8, regarding the closure of rural schools in Midlothian.

In it there is a statement in which Councillor Fletcher is quoted as saying: "These plans have not come from the Council or from the Cabinet. Donald MacKay and his staff have done a first-class job in putting forward a reasoned case, as they see it, for changes to the pattern of primary education suitable for the 21st century."

The problem is that Mr Mackay and his staff have not done a first-class job.

Far from it, they have managed to turn a project, which is due to spend £38.5 million on the new PPP schools into a PR disaster for Midlothian.

School closures and amalgamations always need careful, sensitive handling. In this case it is difficult to see how the Council staff could have been more inept.

I can imagine future Civil Service training courses using this as an example of how not to win hearts and minds. How did they manage to make such a mess of it?

First, Mr Mackay set up a team to work in secrecy excluding most teachers, all parents, children and local communities.

The team was made up of Council staff from the Education, Finance and Legal and Property Departments along with consultants.

I would ask all parents in Midlothian to read the report and then decide for themselves whether Education or Finance was in charge.

Second, they produced a report that has factual errors throughout.

At every public meeting parent and community groups ripped it apart, and the Council had to acknowledge that many criticisms are correct. How embarrassing for councillors to sit in the front row in a public meeting, listening to parents quoting from the report about failings of the school buildings or playgrounds, and then detailing the dates when these faults were rectified, usually with Council money and organised by their staff. The report makes statements about the benefits of large schools which it does not, and cannot, back up from current educational research and attainment statistics.

It lists a series of problems at the small schools that are unrecognisable to the parents who have chosen to send their children there in the full knowledge of the plusses and minuses of such schools.

It completely ignores the effect of the school closures on the villages, and the wider rural economy.

It plans to move children to schools which are then going to be demolished or where they will be housed in temporary classrooms. This report was the basis on which the Cabinet voted to close all five rural schools in Midlothian.

Third, the timing of the whole procedure has caused the maximum upset and anxiety possible to the schools and parents affected.

The Council voted on this flawed report on February 25, and under this plan the rural schools will be gone in a mere 16 weeks.

Other Scottish authorities, including Scottish Borders have taken over a year to make this sort of decision, and in the rest of the United Kingdom there are strong guidelines which ensure that parents and communities are involved right from the start of planning for changes to schools, and that consultation is not just tacked on at the end to meet legal requirements.

It is clear that in this case the process has been designed around the needs of the Council rather than the children.

Mr Mackay and the Council appear to have been taken by surprise over the strong negative reaction their proposals have received.

This is not a simple urban/rural divide.

Of the 21 schools affected, more than half spoke out against the plans at public meetings. The speakers were not professional campaigners, or party apparatchiks, but decent, caring parents, who can see through the spin of this report and know the needs of PPP developers and senior management at Midlothian Council are being given a higher priority than their children.

No intelligent person could have imagined that these plans announced in this way would have had any other sort of response.

Local authorities and directors of education can achieve little without the active support of parents and communities.

The problem for the Council is that parents no longer trust Mr Mackay, partly because it is clear that they are at the bottom of his priority list, but also because he does not speak from a platform of success.

Educational attainment in Midlothian does not compare well with similar areas in Scotland. Only one local authority in Scotland sends fewer children on to higher education.

These important issues are not tackled by the current proposals.

There is great need for many of the school buildings in Midlothian to be replaced or refurbished, but the "one size fits all" solution being proposed by the Council does not answer these needs.

There is a big job to be done in Midlothian to get the whole educational system back on track. The evidence of the last few weeks is that Mr Mackay is not the man to do this job.

Irene Stewart.

Upperside, Near Temple, Gorebridge, Midlothian