Two Capital primaries set to close for good this Christmas

Published on Monday 16 June 2008 10:30

TWO city primary schools could be closed as early as Christmas, it emerged today.

Bonnington and Lismore primaries are recommended to shut for good when the children go on Christmas break, while Westburn Primary – the third school on the council's new hitlist – is scheduled to close next August.

It has also been revealed that closing the three schools would earn the council up to 6.8 million through land sales and savings on running costs and staff, although the council said all staff would be "redeployed".

Members of the education committee will decide on Wednesday whether or not to back the proposals – drawn up by a cross-party group looking at the "rationalisation" of the school estate – which would then be put out to public consultation.

The review was ordered following a 19 per cent drop in pupils attending primary school in the Capital over the last decade, which means there are now 9500 spare places in the city's schools.

The cash-strapped children and families department also needs to make savings of 18m, so closing the schools would significantly help its financial situation.

It is estimated that selling the land Lismore is on could earn the council 3m, while both Bonnington and Westburn could be sold for 1.4m each.

The savings made from closing the three schools will be "put towards improving school buildings across the city". The city council has put forward options for closing each of the three schools, on which parents will be consulted.

Children from Bonnington would either go to Leith Primary or one of the other schools in the catchment area: Lorne, Trinity, Broughton or Fort.

The two options for Lismore are that the pupils would be offered a place at either Brunstane or Niddrie Mill primaries.

Children currently at Westburn would go to Sighthill, Murrayburn or Canal View primaries depending on where they live.

David Corcoran, a member of the parents group fighting plans to close Westburn, said: "These proposals are unacceptable.

"Already there are territorial issues between these schools, and for children to have to go to a school that's historically been their enemy is just not on."

Mr Corcoran added that a great deal of money has been spent on improvements at the school in recent years, including replacing the roof, buying new computers and installing an eco-friendly heating system.

He said: "To take children from a decent school and send them to a crumbling school is unacceptable."

Maggie Paterson, chair of Lismore's parent council, said she is still "100 per cent confident" that the school will be saved and will be pleading her case at Wednesday's meeting.

She said: "We are being flexible with them. The other schools could come and amalgamate with us, but we are not taking a school out of Bingham, because it would rip the heart out of the community."

Director of education Gillian Tee said: "The schools identified all suffer from low rolls, under-occupied buildings and significant levels of parental choice requesting out of their catchment and into other schools. Their education performance ranges from weak to adequate under the department's annual audit of attainment.

"The proposals aim to ensure that the pupils would be offered places at schools achieving higher national attainment standards."

City looks for solution to pupils' meals controversy

COUNCIL officials have held a series of meetings to discuss a way forward in the wake of an Evening News investigation into "unhealthy" school dinners.

Last week, education leader Marilyne MacLaren admitted she was "very disappointed" to discover the poor standard of food being served at schools and nurseries.

Hot meals have been scrapped from 14 out of 18 nurseries, and on Fridays at all primary and secondary schools. The council is also in the process of temporarily closing six primary school kitchens.

The Evening News has revealed that instead of meals such as roast turkey or breaded haddock, young children are now being fed processed cheese, fish paste, flavoured milk, jelly and cakes.

At a meeting of last week's policy and strategy committee, the Lib Dem/SNP administration passed an emergency motion, expressing "concern" at the situation.

Councillor MacLaren has promised "immediate action" to improve the quality of the meals, while exploring how to improve the uptake of school lunches.

A council spokeswoman said today: "Meetings have been held to discuss actions which need to be taken following (the] motion."

Meanwhile, parents have continued to complain to the Evening News about the packed lunches.

Reports have been received of yoghurts that were two days beyond their sell-by date – although not their use-by date – and parents feeding fish paste sandwiches to their dogs because children find the food unappetising.

THE FACTS

Some of the reasons given for closing the three schools:

Bonnington:

&#149 The school roll is currently 80 pupils – the second lowest in the city.

&#149 The school roll has fallen by 49% in the last five years.

&#149 It has the lowest occupancy rate (21%) in the city.

&#149 82% of pupils in the Bonnington catchment attend other schools.

&#149 2007 data shows that only 54% of pupils at Bonnington have attained the national reading standard (the 3rd lowest in the city).

Lismore:

&#149 The school has a small roll of 88 pupils.

&#149 Only 110 pupils live in the Lismore catchment area.

&#149 The school has a capacity for 279 pupils but the occupancy rate is 30%.

&#149 2007 data showed Lismore had a 61% attainment level in national reading standards.

Westburn:

&#149 The school roll has fallen by 36% in the last five years.

&#149 The school occupancy rate of 37% is the fourth lowest in the city.

&#149 2007 data shows only 60% of pupils have attained the national standard in reading.

VICTORIA ESCAPED HITLIST BY SKIN OF TEETH

PARENTS at Victoria Primary are still celebrating after learning that their school is not on the new closure hitlist – but little did they know how close they actually came.

The Evening News revealed in April that the Newhaven school was set to be on the list, along with Lismore, Westburn and Bonnington. But director of education Gillian Tee visited Victoria the day before she announced the under-threat schools and it was not added to the final list in the end.

However, the briefing document listing the names of the councillors representing the threatened schools reveals how close Victoria Primary came to being the fourth school facing the axe.

The list includes the names of the local councillors for the Victoria school.