Laggan’s Gergask Primary School to close with immediate effect
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Highland Council has announced that Laggan’s primary school is to close with immediate effect.
Scottish Ministers, who had the final say, have given the green light fo the local authority to shut the school.
Gergask Primary School has been mothballed since Autumn 2022.
It means that the most southern end of Badenoch has no primary school.
Pupils from Laggan and Dalwhinnie now attend Newtonmore Primary School
A council spokesperson said: “Scottish Ministers have notified Highland Council that the local authority can proceed with its decision to close Gergask Primary School which has been mothballed since September 2022.
“This follows a decision taken by the council on 14 March 2024.
“As the school is already mothballed, the decision will be implemented immediately.”
Education chiefs had initally recommended that education provision should end at the school.
The decision followed a public consultation and a meeting in the village's community hall.
Not so long ago the village was home to a thriving school.
But the roll fell from the mid 20s in the 2010s to just two pupils and the school was mothballed.
The local authority said it saw 'no realistic prospect that Gergask Primary School will develop a viable school roll in the foreseeable future'.
The decision to axe the school had to be rubber-stamped by Scottish Government Ministers.
Some villagers had called for the council to be more creative in its thinking and said that the lack of a school would discourage more families from moving into the area.
But Nicky Grant, Highland Council's then education chief, stated in her report: "The most significant reason for closure is that all the available evidence suggests that the number of children who would attend a re-opened Gergask Primary School would be too low to make the school viable, and that there would consequently be educational disadvantages arising from such a decision...
The council has said that they would welcome a community bid for the future use of the building and site.
Education Scotland recommended that the local authority should continue to engage with the community to discuss future options for the use of the building.
