Call for Highland Council to think outside of box to safeguard rural schools
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A call has been made for more innovative thinking to keep a Badenoch primary school open.
There is still an opportunity for people to highlight their concern about the proposed permanent closure of Gergask Primary School.
Highland Council education bosses are recommending the move but it still has to be signed off by Highland councillors and then Scottish Ministers – although a reversal at this stage looks unlikely.
Related article:
Badenoch school recommended for closure due to lack of pupils
Jo Cumming, of Glentruim, had called for a delay in the permanent closure of the school during the public consultation.
She said: "I'm concerned at the number of school closures and the impact on communities.
"No school means it is less likely that parents with young children will move into the community as we are seeing in Laggan.
"A family from Laggan moved to the south of France quite near Carcassonne.
"There, in an area like Badenoch and Strathspey, they have taken a creative approach. They have avoided closing all the schools and clustering them in one location bursting at the seams.
"Instead community schools host one or two years. Children are bussed to and from school. There is more space and the communities are kept alive.
"When we moved here in 2000, my son and grandchildren moved up a few years later and Gergask had 24 pupils. It is sad to see the decline in numbers.
"Surely we could look for more creative approaches here."
Highland Council addressed the concern in its report recommending closure of the school.
Nicky Grant, the council's head of education, said: "The extent of the decline of the roll of Gergask Primary School, from what it was 20 years ago, is sadly typical of many communities across Highland and indeed across Scotland.
"In August 2011 the Scottish Government established a Commission on the Delivery of Rural Education, which reported in 2014.
"The commission examined the question of whether the future of a community is compromised without the incentive that a rural school provides to encourage young families to move to or remain in the area.
"They noted that there were examples of communities which had thrived despite the loss of a local school, as well as examples of communities which had continued to depopulate despite the presence of a rural school.
"The commission concluded there was a lack of robust evidence on how pre-school, childcare and school proximity (and freedom from threat of closure) links to the sustainability of communities.
"They also concluded that a school alone cannot sustain a rural community.
"They noted that other issues are likely to be as critical to maintaining a working age population.
"The commission received a strong message on its visits to communities that while they place great value on a school in their community, the two most important factors in sustaining the community are jobs and housing.
"Without employment opportunities and affordable housing, families can neither move to an area nor remain there.
"The council agrees with this view."
Highland Council is required to notify Scottish Ministers of its decision and provide them with a copy of the proposal paper and consultation report.
The Scottish Ministers have an eight-week period from the date of that final decision on March 14 to decide if they will call-in the proposal.
Within the first three weeks of the eight-week period, Scottish Ministers will take account of any relevant representations made to them by any person.
Anyone who wishes to make representations to them can do so up until midnight on April 3.
Ministers will have until midnight on May 8 to take a decision on the call-in of the closure proposal.
Anyone wishing to make a representation to the Scottish Ministers requesting them to call-in the decision to close Gergask Primary School can email schoolclosure@gov.scot or to write to School Infrastructure Unit, Learning Directorate, The Scottish Government, Area 2A South, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ.
If ministers call-in the proposal, it will be referred to a school closure review panel.
The report can be viewed online at: http://www.highland.gov.uk/schoolconsultations
Hard copies have been made available at Newtonmore Primary School and Kingussie library.
