New schools closure hit-list is smaller but no less important

IT was the news that parents had been dreading for almost a year – the council had come up with a new school closure hit-list. This time round though there were only three schools targeted – Bonnington, Westburn and Lismore primaries – compared to 22 last August.

All three schools narrowly escaped closure last year when a mass protest forced the council into a climb-down. This time round they face a lonelier fight.

The council adopted a new, softly-softly approach, firstly coming up with a set of criteria – including school rolls, exam results and running costs – by which all schools were judged at meetings held behind closed doors over the course of six months.

The suspicion remains though that the council's strategy is one of divide and rule. Picking off schools for closure in individual small groups and avoiding parents banding together.

Given that only 12 months ago the council felt the need to close 22 schools, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that more closures are on the horizon.

Whether it is next year, the year after, or soon after that, more closures are seemingly inevitable.

It is likely to be a tough fight, especially for Bonnington and Lismore, where school rolls have fallen dramatically.

When the closure plans were announced in June, Bonnington, in Leith, had 80 pupils – the second lowest in the city

and after a number of worried parents removed their children from the school the roll has dropped to just 32.

Westburn's prospects may be little better, despite the fact its roll has held up.

Judith Gillespie, development manager of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, says the evidence of the falling school rolls shows that the council has now "carefully" selected the schools on the basis of educational benefits.

Schools cannot flourish, she says, with so few pupils.

She says: "Last time it was a bit of a response to a financial crisis, but this time they have looked at it very strongly in terms of educational benefit and good rationale.

"The reality is that pupil population moves around and we are often left with schools that are basically in the wrong place.

"If a school becomes too old-fashioned and there are small pupil numbers then the youngsters in that school will not be getting as good an education provision as youngsters elsewhere.

"The council has looked at this very carefully and identified the schools against a set of criteria."

Despite the opposition which accompanies every proposed school closure, Ms Gillespie says that the end result is almost always favoured – even by those who protested the most.

She said the closure of Ainslie Park secondary school in 1991 – which was "fiercely opposed" at the time – is a perfect example of this, as parents soon changed their minds when they discovered their children were getting a better education in their new schools.

"Once it was closed we went back and asked those who fiercely opposed closure and they said that in fact it was the right thing to do," she adds.

As the consultation into the closures gets under way, with a series of public meetings starting in September, parents are finalising their actions plans.

Some are crying foul over the council's approach.

Gail Ross, of the Lismore Parents Action group, says: "I think they're using sneaky tactics, because they are clearly going to close more schools.

"I believe they're doing it in phases so they don't cause a big outcry."

Tina Woolnough, chairwoman of Parents In Partnership, says the consultation process has been much better, but believes the "death knell" may have already sounded for the named schools.

She says: "They are doing a small amount at a time so we're not going to get a united front like we did last year.

"They do seem to be trying to listen to local people – probably trying to persuade people that this is in their interest – which is something they should have done all along. In some cases there's not many people left to fight for the schools."

She accuses the council of employing a "mean tactic" over the timing of its plans. Many parents have taken their children out of Bonnington and Lismore to avoid the risk of having to move them to another school in the middle of the academic year.

Councillor Marilyne MacLaren, the city's education leader, points to the falling school rolls as evidence that closing the three will improve "educational attainment".

"Schools with very small rolls struggle to provide the kind of extracurricular activities that children need to help them flourish as they develop during these crucial early years," she says.

"I understand the real attachment that parents feel towards a school that has been part of a community for a long time, but the painful truth is that there has been a fall of nearly 6000 primary aged children over the last ten years in Edinburgh.

"We also have the issue that within certain areas of the city the school rolls are very variable as parents vote with their feet when they choose a school for their child."