Huge schools shake-up plan for Borders

Published on Tuesday 28 October 2003 00:00

BORDERS schools face closures and mergers under the biggest overhaul of buildings for more than a generation. The plan unveiled yesterday which is expected to provoke an uproar among parents and councillors, could result in 11 schools closing their gates permanently.

The "hit list" of candidates for closure include country schools that have already escaped the axe on several occasions.

Education authorities across the country are coming under increasing pressure from HM Inspectorate of Education and Audit Scotland to take action as a result of the falling birth rate.

Education authorities are being urged by the two watchdogs and the Executive to channel funds into fewer centres but with new high-quality facilities such as separate dining rooms and playing fields.

Thousands of Scottish children are being taught in half empty, deteriorating buildings. In the Borders, where schools are scattered over 2,000 square miles, one school has just seven pupils. Since 1964, the number of babies born each year in Scotland has dropped from 104,000 a year to 50,000.

Last night, Jock Houston, a Lib Dem councillor, predicted a stormy reception for the controversial plan due to be debated by Borders councillors on Thursday, despite the prospect of some new state-of-the-art schools. He said: "Closures are political dynamite. Usually, you only try to close one at a time. With 11 at one time there will be a huge explosion."

Eleanor Coner, the spokeswoman for the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said that communities are usually distressed by proposed closures as schools may be the hub of village life and attended by the parents and grandparents of present pupils.

But she added: "As long as good transport provision is laid on, I would say it is better to go to a new well-resourced school instead of rattling around like peas in a half-empty place."

Work on the proposals, in preparation for a 68 million public private partnership (PPP) bid, was confined to a small team within Scottish Borders Council. A list of 35 schools requiring urgent attention, has been compiled.

The report to councillors says: "The recommendations are no reflection on the quality of education at any of the schools involved. It should be clearly understood that no decisions have yet been made on any schools recommended for statutory consultation."

Under the proposals, four Berwickshire schools are scheduled for closure by 2005. They are Cranshaws (seven pupils) with children transferring to Duns; Eccles/Leitholm (23) moving to Coldstream or Swinton; Hutton (24) transferring to Chirnside or Swinton; and Burnmouth (17) moving to Eyemouth or Ayton.

Around Galashiels, the rural primaries of Heriot (44) and Fountainhall (21) would merge to provide a strategically located rural school for the area north of the town.

The measures also allow for the closure of the country schools at Roberton (21) and Teviothead (8), near Hawick, with pupils moving to the town’s Drumlanrig PS by 2005.

A further merger is planned for Oxnam (12) and Glendouglas (9) schools, near Jedburgh. Neither building meets the requirements of the so-called School of the Future standards, but the review considers there is a need for a strategically located primary to serve the area.

The possibility of closure also hangs over Ednam (55), a school near Kelso with high occupancy levels but poor building standards. Should the school close then pupils would move to Broomlands or Edenside schools in Kelso.

There will also be closures and mergers among schools lucky enough to be included in the proposed PPP project.

The existing overcrowded school at Lauder (152) is a candidate for closure, with the town set to get a new school on a new site. That would allow consideration to be given to the closure of Channelkirk (52) once the new buildings in Lauder are ready, in 2007/8.

Galashiels could see radical changes after six out of seven local primaries have been identified as high priorities for investment. A "whole town" solution may see new locations and mergers for St Peters (244), Burgh (214), Glendinning (102), Balmoral (126) and Langlee (266) schools. The report recommends co-location of the Peebles town schools of Halyrude (95) and Kingsland (335) on a new shared campus.

A similar solution is proposed for two rural primaries in Peeblesshire. Buildings at Newlands (83) and West Linton (237) are both said to be "extremely poor", and a joint school on a new site in West Linton is seen as the answer.