School pays £20k to bus kids half a mile to overflow rooms

ONE of the city's most overcrowded schools is paying £20,000 a year to bus children to a second overflow building - just 0.6 miles away.

Pupils from South Morningside Primary are driven to and from their main school building on Comiston Road to an annexe at the Cluny Centre on Cluny Drive, which has additional classrooms.

Parents who have been looking for ways to save money discovered the service costs 20,000 per year and have called on the council to scrap the bus and let the children walk the short distance instead.

The parent council has been looking to find extra money to pay for a second gym hall as the school consistently fails to meet national targets to give children two hours of PE per week.

It is proposing some of the money saved by axing the bus service could be used to pay to rent hall space at the Cluny Centre to give children the minimum amount of PE. Parents are proposing some of the savings could also be used to improve road safety between the school and the annexe.

Councillor Alison Johnstone, who represents the Meadows and Morningside ward and is education spokeswoman for the Greens, said: "The parents have been concerned about the lack of PE provision for quite some time. I'm supporting them to ensure that the council takes a serious look at whether it's really necessary that the children are bused from A to B.

"I'm not sure if it's some sort of historical anomaly stemming back to when the council had more money but these are the kinds of things we really need to be looking at. It's obviously a massive expense and we have the opportunity here to turn that expense into a more productive expense by actually enabling children to get two hours of PE.

"With our commitment to providing safer routes to school, I would like to think that it's not beyond the realms of possibility to make the route safe to walk."

She added: "Hats off to the parents for pushing this and I hope the administration will do everything they can to look at this seriously."

Parent Sandrine Tonini said: "They are not getting anywhere near enough PE at the moment so this is definitely a good idea.

"There have been a lot of people saying that the bus is a waste of money - it's a large bus and it's never full.

"I knew it was a big expense but I didn't realise it was that big. It's quite a shocking figure.

"I think walking the children to the annexe is something we can accommodate quite easily."

Education leader Marilyne MacLaren said: "I had correspondence from South Morningside parent council and was very happy to respond to them to say I will look at this seriously and I hope there will be a report to committee."