Expensive lesson in half-empty classes

Published on Monday 23 November 2009 08:38

AT LEAST half the desks in more than one in ten city schools are lying empty, new figures have revealed.

Occupancy rates in some primary schools are so low that it is costing the city council thousands of pounds more per pupil than in the busiest schools.

Corstorphine is currently the city's fullest primary, with more than 100 per cent occupancy, while schools like Sciennes and James Gillespie's follow closely behind.

On the other side, Drumbrae – which is one of four schools currently facing closure – has just a 23 per cent occupancy rate, with campaigners saying the roll has slumped since it faced the axe.

A total of 14 of the city's 91 primaries – or 15 per cent – are half empty or less, sparking calls for more to be done to improve the reputation and attainment at schools with low rolls.

But the figures reveal a different story for secondary schools, with 30 per cent bursting at the seams at more than 100 per cent full.

James Gillespie's High is the most over-occupied secondary, followed by Boroughmuir, Portobello and the Royal High.

Karen Keil, member of the Save Drumbrae campaign group, said education bosses should be doing more to promote local schools.

She said: "What we have discovered is that parents of the other local schools said things like they had no idea Drumbrae had such good facilities or that it had so much land. Parents don't know what they're missing out on.

"I think the council could do a lot more to promote local schools and those which have low occupancy rates so we don't have some schools overcrowded and others half-empty."

The most expensive primary schools in terms of cost per pupil are Drumbrae, Fort and Hillwood, which have occupancy rates of 23, 32 and 47 per cent respectively.

In secondary schools, the cost per pupil at Castlebrae – the school with the lowest occupancy – is 8,973, compared with the almost-full Craigmount High, where it costs 3,928 per pupil.

Councillor Jeremy Balfour, education spokesman for the Conservatives, said education bosses need to be looking at how to close the gap between schools – including improving attainment.

The Evening News revealed earlier this month that in more than a quarter of the city's 23 high schools, at least half of children aged 14 are not meeting the basic targets in writing and maths.

Cllr Balfour said: "

There are some schools in particular where parents want to send their children to and that is understandable, but we need to look at why some schools are not as popular and what help we should be giving the headteachers.

"Schools which have high attainment give parents confidence and we need to work on that. We need to push up attainment for everyone within the education system in Edinburgh."

City education leader Marilyne MacLaren said: "Under-occupied schools are very expensive so we must be sure that Edinburgh's schools are full of pupils to offer the best possible education.

"Whilst school closures are painful, the process helps to reduce the number of costly empty places and enables us to offer greater breadth in the curriculum.

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