Old Trossachs primary school to be mothballed

ONE of Scotland's smallest primary schools is to be mothballed, after ending up with no pupils.

Primary school in the Trossachs to be mothballed. Picture: Contributed

Trossachs Primary School in Brig o’Turk is set to close after pupil count fell from five to zero at the end of last term.

The fate of the school, opened in 1875 now lies in the hands of Stirling Council whose Labour/Conservative-controlled council’s education committee will meet next week to discuss a proposal by officials to close the school temporarily pending a final decision on its long-term future.

However permanent closure is thought almost certainly to follow.

Trossachs Primary shares its headmistress, Mrs S Logan, and acting headmistress Tanya Starkey, with Callander Primary, less than seven miles away as the school has only one small classroom to educate pupils ranging in age from P7, P4, P3, P2, and P1.

After requests from parents, students of Trossachs Primary have been offered some lessons at the much larger Callander Primary so that they get the chance to learn and socialise with children of their own age.

One local resident, who asked not to be named said: “Some parents later wanted to go back to five days a week at Trossachs and the Council made efforts to go along with that, but at the end of last term there were four or five pupils in the school, from a range of ages, and there were no new-starts”

A Stirling Council spokesman said: “As there are no children enrolled to attend Trossachs Primary School after the summer holidays, and following discussions with local parents, a report will be taken to next week’s education committee to propose that it be mothballed for school session 2016/2017.”

Stirling Conservative councillor Martin Earl said: “No one wants to see any schools close but when pupil numbers get as low as they have at Trossachs Primary School, the parents must make decisions that are in their children’s best interests and if that is addressed by moving to another, larger, school then no other criteria is relevant.”

Villagers say there used to be 19 or 20 pupils at the school but over the years there has been a steady decline.

Trossachs Primary will not be the first rural school to be mothballed, Primary and Invesnaid Primary Schools suffered the same fate back in 2011.

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