Parents say Trinity will be one of most overcrowded in city

Published on Saturday 20 June 2009 11:25

EDUCATION bosses are being warned that moving children from a closure-threatened school into Trinity Primary would lead to it becoming "one of the most overcrowded" in Edinburgh.

Parents fear that if nearby Fort Primary is closed – which the council is proposing – Trinity would not be able to cope with the increase in pupil numbers.

The chair of Trinity's parent council, Andrew MacMillan, says a lot of the year groups are already full so it would struggle to receive the 94 Fort Primary pupils.

Education bosses are recommending that four primary schools close next summer: Royston, Burdiehouse, Drumbrae and Fort.

But while they propose two "receiving" schools for each of the other three threatened schools, they recommend that Trinity Primary alone should accommodate all Fort pupils.

Parents will get to raise their concerns officially when the consultation process starts in August, but they fear that the council has made the wrong decision by earmarking Trinity as the only receiving school for nearby Fort.

They are also questioning why the council has altered the capacity of the school from 415 to 456 in the past three months.

Mr MacMillan said: "The council paper (on school closures] has a notional capacity for Trinity of 456, whereas in March 2009 it was 415, so the council has created 41 spaces without any notification to the parent council or school.

"We took in kids from Bonnington (which closed at Christmas] and they integrated fine, but if we have to take in all the kids from Fort it would make us one of the most overcrowded schools in Edinburgh.

"Many of the years at Trinity are already full and it simply wouldn't be possible."

He added that the proposal to move Fort children into Trinity is "effectively the same" as the council's plan back in 2004 to merge the two schools.

Leith Walk Labour councillor Angela Blacklock, whose two children go to Trinity Primary, believes nearby Victoria Primary in Newhaven would be a good candidate for receiving some of the Fort children as it was also recently under threat of closure because of its low school roll.

She said: "Trinity doesn't have very many spaces and going from my kids' classes, P5 is up to its limit and P3 is nearly full."

A city council spokesman said the authority aimed to have an "appropriate level" of general purpose rooms in each school.

He added: "Edinburgh's primaries have more than 8,000 spare places, which is very expensive. If agreed, this process will allow us to spend more money where it's needed.

"We've assessed schools carefully and no school will be too full as a result of this process."