Relief on way for threatened rural schools

Published on Thursday 1 May 2008 22:14

RURAL schools are to be given greater protection from closure under rules proposed by the Scottish Government.

Examination of the wider impact on communities, and the implications of longer journeys for pupils and the environment, would be obligatory.

The Safeguarding Rural Schools Bill would also force any council to conduct a minimum six-week consultation in term-time, hold public meetings and consult school inspectors.

Authorities would have to publish views expressed in consultation, and outline an educational case for the move.

There has been increasing consternation as schools across Scotland are threatened with closure. A falling birthrate has cut pupil numbers, particularly affecting small rural schools.

In the Western Isles four rural secondaries are to close to save 1.5 million a year.

In Moray, Carbach primary, which costs the council 100,000 a year and has only two pupils, a brother and sister, was forced to stay open after the Scottish Government intervened in attempts to close it.

Fiona Hyslop, education secretary, said she hoped the bill would make the process fairer, more robust and transparent and improve consultation.

She said: "Schools are an important part of ensuring vibrant local communities and local economies in villages. It is important that rural schools get the protection they need.

"There can be much heart-ache and time-consuming efforts in current consultations and we want to relieve that."

There are about 1,000 schools in rural areas as defined by the Scottish Government. Of the 136 school closures in Scotland since 1999, 40 per cent have been in rural areas.

Currently there is only guidance on the procedure for closing schools.

However, the final decision must be taken by the education minister if a school is at 80 per cent capacity; if it is a Catholic school that the Church has not agreed to close; or if children must travel more than five miles to their new primary or ten miles to their new secondary.

Sandy Longmuir, of the Rural Schools Network, said the bill would enshrine in law guidance which has previously been ignored by councils.

However, he said he would like an independent body such as Audit Scotland to examine financial cases for closure.

He said: "This is a big step forward from where we have been. We have seen case after case where consultation has not been conducted properly and a lot of these proposals would have stopped many of those."

The bill is to be introduced after consultation, which is expected to run until September.

SAVED - FOR THE SECOND TIME

A TINY Lochaber school has escaped the axe for the second time after a council got its sums wrong.

Roy Bridge primary was reprieved after 34 independent members of Highland Council voted to save it rather than send the 24 pupils to Spean Bridge, three miles away, as decided in December 2006.

Their 17 SNP colleagues previously said they would back the school, so the reprieve is a formality.

Marie Clare Russell, whose daughter is a pupil, said: "We are delighted. We had half the administration supporting us and now we have the other half."

The council had said it did not have money to upgrade Roy Bridge and would save cash by closing it. But last month it admitted a 2 million funding error over the cost of closing it and upgrading Spean Bridge.

A closure threat was also lifted in 1998.