(Updated) Argyll & Bute Council’s schools rationalisation programme will see a six week consultation period for each of no fewer than twenty six primary schools listed for possible closure.
It is wise to say nothing until you are in a position to announce everything but, In a flawed procedure – what gives the unfortunate impression of the partisan is that there is no information yet on the schools in Dunoon, for whom a separate consultation process is to be carried out.
The schools elsewhere, how formally under threat – with their current rolls and the school designated to receive their pupils - are:
- Achahoish: 15 – to Ardrishaig
- Luss: 21 – to Hermitage Academy
- Keills: 24 – to Port Charlotte
- St Keiran’s: 0 – but future pupils would go to Castlehill
- Southend: 26 – to Drumlemble
- Ardchonnel: 0 – but future pupils would go to Dalmally or Kilmartin
- Luing: 19 – to Easdale
- Rosneath: 85 – to Garelochhead
- Kilcreggan: 70 – to Garelochhead
- Parklands: 7 – to Hermitage Academy or John Logie Baird
- Toward: 20 – to Innellan
- Glassary: 20 – to Lochgilphead
- Minard: 10 – to Lochgilphead
- Ardchattan: 5 – to Lochnell
- Achaleven: 9 – to Lochnell
- Barcaldine: 23 – to Lochnell
- North Bute: 51 – to Rothesay
- Lochdonhead: 14 – to Salen
- Strone: 42 – to Sandbank
- Kilmodan: 22 – to Strachur or Tighnabruaich
- Skipness: 1 – to Clachan
- Rhunahaorine: 14 – to Clachan
- Glenbarr: 11 – to Clachan
- Kilchrenan: 10 – to Taynuilt
- Ashfield: (8 – to Tayvallich
- Ulva : 7 – to Dervaig
Exemplary analyses
These examples have been selected because each is indicative of a different situation which requires to be considered before final decisions on closures are made.
Furnace, Mid Argyll
Every story is known as much by what is not said and done as by what is. Some communities – like Furnace in Mid Argyll, may feel that they are off the hook since their school does not figure on the list.
However, the 10 pupil school at Minard, three miles away from Furnace, is down to close with its pupils sent – not to Furnace, which has the capacity, but to Lochgilphead, 13 miles away.
And, unlike some other schools on the list, parents in Minard are not being given a choice of which alternative school they would prefer their children to attend. This too is telling evidence on the fate lined up for Furnace.
When the market improves and the talented Head Teacher at Furnace, offered shelter for the time being in the continuation of the school, moves on to the headship of a larger school, it is clear that the plan is to close Furnace school at that stage.
Luss, Helensburgh and Lomond
The closure of the school at Luss, moving 21 pupils to Hermitage Academy in Helensburgh raises another issue. This is not just a change of school, it is a change of culture. A group of children who have grown up together in a small village on the shores of Loch Lomond will move across the landscape to a very large school in the largest town in Argyll.with a population of around 20,000 people, on the Clyde and near the UK submarine base.
Many parents who choose either to stay in small rural communities, or who move back or into them, do so because of the nature of upbringing possible for their children in such circumstances. The cultural shift embedded in this decision requires sensitivity and very real consultation before it is enacted.
Keils, Islay
Closing a rural school of 24 pupils in Keils. near Port Askaig on the Sound of Islay in the north west of the island and moving them south east to Port Charlotte on Loch Indaal is, in an island context, moving them to another world.
Distance may be an exact measure but it is received proportionately to context. Mainland distance does not equate to island distance any more than the journeys we take here equate to those taken normally by people living in the USA.
Southend, Kintyre
The proposal to close a 26 pupil school at Southend, arguably one of the most remote communities in Argyll, at the very tip of the long Mull of Kintyre and to transfer them to Drumlemble on the north west corner of the Mull cannot but undermine the sustainability of the Southend community.
This decsion, if implemented, would also leave the entire south end of the Mull without the economic and social pull of a primary school. The educational case for this closure is going to have to be extremely robust.
(Community reaction to this decision can be followed here at The Kintyre Forum)
Toward, Cowal
Closing the 20 pupil school at Toward and moving the children up the road to Innellan will leave the entire south of this finger of the Cowal peninsula without a primary school. This will also prejudice the success of achieving a residential community in the Ardyne Point area – and the possibility of a residential community there, as opposed to a Butlins for hang-gliders, is the sole redeeming element for what is a commercial expedient by a rich company to avoid due restitution of an area it devastated.
Luing, Slate Islands
The transfer of 19 pupils from the Isle of Luing, the biggest of the Slate Islands, to the school in Easdale (the mainland slate village of Ellenabeich, not the sister Isle of Easdale) would seem problematic on three grounds. It removes a reason to live on Luing from for the families any island needs, and therefore seriously undermines the sustainability of the island community. The ferry to Luing may be a short distance but the ferry itself is old and unreliable and weather can be a factor. In these circumstances it seems strange to assign children form the island to a mainland school they not always be able to reach. The third problem about this closure recommendation is educational.We understand that Luing is an award winning school and would expect an appeal to be mounted on educational grounds.
Rosneath and Kilchreggan, Helensburgh and Lomond
Another seeming anomaly is the proposed closure of two apparently healthy schools – Rosneath with 85 pupils and Kilchreggan with 70 pupils – both to be relocated to Garelochead – which will receive a total of 155 new pupils. No argument is offered on the educational reason for the closure of these two schools or for the significant expansion of Garelochead – yet this is the only acceptable ground for closure under the new Government rules.
However, this arrangement would seem to be a useful rationalisation without the social costs of closure borne in different contexts. This little peninsula can already sustain two primary schools of significant size in addition to Garelochhead, which is at its head.
The likelihood is – with the naval stores and bases of Coulport (on the peninsula) and Faslane on the far side of Garelochhead – that there are a lot of service families in the area. Closing these two school is less likely to undermine the sustainability of their communities and, if the education case for the move is clear, the cost saving is intelligent.
Update: We understand that Rosneath is an award winning school and that it has a strong educational argument for retention.
The law
The Scottish Government’s legal instruction to Councils is to work on a presumption against school closure; and, where a school is identified for closure, to make the final decision only on educational grounds.
Interestingly, the review of Argyll and Bute’s education budget – which has led to the proposal to close these 26 schools – appears to make no reference to an education argument for the closure and seems concerned only with finance – in cost and in future planning.
Cleland Sneddon, Argyll and Bute Council’s Director for Community Services is quoted as talking of the council’s vision for its education service and that it is working to improve the quality of education for all of its pupils in Argyll and Bute.
While making it clear that cost is the driver, he has offered reassurance that there will be full consultation. The trouble with the credibility of this palliative is that there is no precedent to suggest that consultation, per se and as most of us understand it, brings change to what has been predetermined.
The widespread adoption of ‘consultation’ in the world of the bureaucrat has, in its abuse in practice, bred a cynicism of the most politically damaging kind. In a stable and engaged society ‘government’ – at any level – must be trustworthy and must be trusted – not up to but beyond a certain point. It is arguable that ‘consultation’ was the wheeze that pushed that point back too far.
The only thing that is seen to work is an energetic and forceful campaign that carries votes, attracts major media attention and makes Councillors – who have the final say in this – feel nervous about the consequences for themselves.
Empty threats are as dangerous as empty promises. Communities campaigning for their schools on the basis of votes to come, will have to carry that promise or threat for a year, with the Scottish local government elections now postponed for a further twelve months to 2012.
Decisions will be made by the council in Spring 2011 and affected schools will close on 30th June 2010.
Note: (10.40am 27th October 2010): The school estate consultation papers are now available on the Argyll and Bute Council website.
Political response
Highlands & Islands Conservative MSP, Jamie McGrigor, has already received representations from concerned local parents in Argyll & Bute, and says: ‘This is potentially devastating news for many rural parents and communities in Argyll & Bute
‘During the first term of the Scottish Parliament I was confronted with a similar- but less serious- issue facing Argyll & Bute primary schools which were listed for closure. This was resisted by a powerful popular campaign and once again I will do what I can to support local parents and communities and resist the closures of rural primary schools which are the focal point of local communities.
‘While we recognise the Council’s need to make budget savings, rural primary schools generally provide a first class quality of education for local children and this should be a key aim for policymakers.
‘I raised this very matter with the Education Secretary Mike Russell only a few weeks ago in Parliament and his answer was clear: that there was a presumption against closure.
‘Now we need to see him backing up his words in Parliament with actions. I will be seeking to raise this matter again with Ministers in Parliament at an early opportunity’.
Below is the text of the oral exchange at Question Time in Holyrood on 16th September 2010 between Jamie McGrigor and the Education Secretary, Michael Russell.
Q&A on Rural Schools
4. Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will safeguard the future of rural schools. (S3O-11300)
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning (Michael Russell): ‘The Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010, which was introduced by the Government and supported unanimously by Parliament, establishes a presumption against the closure of rural schools by ensuring that a decision by a local authority to consult on a closure proposal is only one of last resort’.
Jamie McGrigor: ‘The cabinet secretary may be aware of the campaign in the first session of the Scottish Parliament, which I supported, to save six rural primary schools in Argyll and Bute, such as the successful and popular Drumlemble primary school near Campbeltown, which I recently visited with Annabel Goldie and which, I am glad to say, is still thriving. Given the importance of rural primary schools in both providing good-quality, accessible education and helping to sustain fragile rural communities, what specific assurances can he give about the action that ministers will take to prevent the closure of threatened rural schools when local authorities are facing such challenging financial circumstances?’
Michael Russell: ‘I have already answered that question—the Government introduced legislation specifically to tackle the activity to which the member refers. It establishes a presumption against the closure of rural schools by ensuring that a decision by a local authority to consult on a closure proposal is only one of last resort.
‘The 2010 act has belt and braces. It means that the consultation process must be fully open and transparent and that there must be an educational justification for closure proposals; Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education is involved in that regard. There is a process that allows local communities to ask for the decision to be called in, should there be doubts about the consultative process.
‘I well remember the campaign to which the member refers, as I was part of it. Regrettably, although a number of schools were kept open, my wife’s school was not, so I know what effect closures of rural schools have. We are trying to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and transparently. I accept that we are in a time of great financial difficulty, but rural schools are important to the fabric of Scotland and very important to local communities. We are working hard to ensure that they continue to be so.’
We will return to this issue.
Tonight it is certain that twenty six communities in Argyll and gearing up to fight for their crucial local school.
Over £400 million pounds wasted building a parliament building which takes millions a year to run + umpteen MSPs to be kept , how much better it would be to spend the money on our children’s education
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Pingback: Argyll News: Education Secretary's response on planned school closures in Argyll and Bute :Argyll,Argyll Bute Council,school closures,Cabinet Secretary for Education, | For Argyll
Appalling. Cut the middle management not the front line. How to destroy 26 communities in one easy step — well done ABC. What you going to do about it Mike Russell? Don’t get this right you’ll lose next year: guaranteed!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
The closure of Rosneath & Kilcreggan Primary schools hinges on:
“The likelihood is – with the naval stores and bases of Coulport (on the peninsula) and Faslane on the far side of Garelochhead – that there are a lot of service families in the area. Closing these two school is not going to undermine the sustainability of their communities and, if the education case for the move is clear, the cost saving is intelligent”
Service families will not buy houses and move in to villages with no schools or amenities. Property prices will collapse. Many service families already choose to live in the Dumbarton area for the amenties. I would not choose to live in a village without a school. This is madness.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Speaking as a retired accountant, I am concerned with the measurement of relative cost and benefit offered by smaller or larger schools. A successful school gives it’s youngsters the tools to play a fulfilling part in their future personal and community lives, so success can only be measured long after the student has left school… and then not in pounds per capita.
If we do try to measure using fiscal tools, we should take into account all the other calls on the same social budget, such as healthcare and policing. I suspect young people at Luing make a tiny demand on these funds by comparison with city youngsters.
It can’t be denied that children who have attended a small community school are exposed to an experience most larger-school pupils will never have. That is; the opportunity to be part of a community not predominated by their own immediate age group. Youngsters from small schools posses a rare ability to relate to other generations and cross the social divides found in larger schools and communities.
A variety of schools will ensure that our society at large will benefit in the future from youngsters raised in different situations, not a unified mass, unable to think for themselves. We should not be put all or eggs in one basket.
Until the decision-makers can confirm that they have fully assessed the long-term benefits to the children educated at small schools such as Luing, and the communities they are part of, then they will have failed in their duty of care.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Apart from ripping the guts out of two Peninsula villages by the “proposed” closure of Rosneath & Kilcreggan schools, what thought has been given to library access for after school study? Rosneath library will obviously be axed. Cove library has been closed and likewise Garelochhead library. The nearest library for children will then be Helensburgh!!
What are the next proposals to cut costs – savage the elderly,cut street lights at night,monthly refuse collections…………….
A & B you have done very well, and God help you at the next elections!!!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
For Clive Cole and Bigfeller: As we said, we were looking at this purely on paper and without close local knowledge. In addition to the very cogent arguments you are making, we now understand that Rosneath is an award winning school which, if what you say about Garelochead is accurate, must support a strong educational case for retention.
Any community will be much less without its local school and we are far from unsympathetic. At the moment, we are going through the Schools Consultation (Scotland) Bill of 2009, where the founding legislation governing school closures lies. We will publish what we see as the key guiding passages when our analysis is complete.
When you are very young, the opportunity to go to school where you live helps to breed a sense of identity with place. This is a lifelong strength to most individuals, sometimes only becoming evident later on. The connection between community, parent, child and school is a rich one. Removing it from an entire community is an irreparable loss that should require a very thoughtful pause.
The case made by Richard Pierce below is a very powerful and reasoned one, calling to attention the depths of consequence beyond the mundane and the fiscal.
It is this grasp of the profundities that we must hope our Council can rise to share.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
The views in this article seem, er, somehwat unsympathetic for the people affected on the Rosneath peninsula – we’re not all in navy, many families have seen generations go to the same school and will be heartbroken by this. Why is Garelochhead staying open, when it did so badly in the council’s own criteria? “Closing these two school is not going to undermine the sustainability of their communities”? Rubbish – the council has already closed the village library and burgh hall. What’s left? Nothing.
Also, what about the closure of Parklands Special School in Helensburgh – huge issues involved there. And why are Luss pupils not going to Arrochar rather than Helensburgh?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
“What are the next proposals to cut costs – savage the elderly,cut street lights at night,monthly refuse collections…………….”
Bar savaging the elderly you might not be too far off the mark with those ideas.
If you keep the schools open and the staff employed (teachers cannot currently be made redundant) then the savings have to come from elsewhere…
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Rosneath Primary (the old school) which became the community centre for the village was axed and abandoned by A & B years ago and left to crumble into a depressing embarrassment which made the centre of the village look like a was zone. In one fell swoop the Rosneath lost its heart, no more village dances, no more play group, no more mothers and toddlers. The youth club eventually found a new home in the current primary school. The effect of these closures will be devastating. The local primary and library are the only resources left, we have been stripped of the rest. I had a charmed childhood in a wonderful place and am just sorry that my son has been robbed of what I had through the lunacy of centralisation.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
School closures will always be an emotive subject, and on occasions one that has the potential to put children at risk by having to take long journeys in rural areas during bad weather. I particularly like the view put forward by Richard Pierce on, “measurement of relative cost and benefit”, and speaking as a former police officer I can vouch for the extra policing of “social delinquents” in some urban areas, just about unheard of in remote rural regions, but of course that’s a different budget! (Maybe that whole “budget” process needs to be changed, that would save a fortune).
Having been involved with the school closure whilst living on the island of Kerrera, and my two kids were the next youngsters to go to the school this relights some very emotive times. I and my family left the island, as I would not accept the view from ABC that if my four and a half year old boy could not get home, crossing the Sound of Kerrera during time of rough weather, he could stay in the Oban Hostel!
As outrageous as putting a four year old into a hostel seems that was not the worst seen by officials within ABC and our councillors: the facts in the mater as portrayed by council representatives were far from accurate, and when we attempted to correct the facts nobody appeared to be interested.
As with many “consultations”; a farce, one which purely ticks the legal boxes, even the process in council chambers was weighted in favour of those who were intent of pushing through the closure of the Kerrera Primary School.
My family left the island as a result of the school closure, our friends also with a young family left shortly afterwards; the islanders, the community were divided. Two or three councillors were very helpful, my thanks to them, but as now with the current situation in ABC voting/”closed-shop” regime it hardly appears a democratic process.
Other schools appeared to ignore the situation, few willing to lend a hand just in case they were next on the list. If I could suggest the findings of what we learnt; schools and communities must stick together, there is no strength divided, even schools that have not been targeted this time round. The elections are just around the corner; organise a good public awareness strategy, get the public, the voter’s sympathy.
With a declining population and budget deficit times are hard. Work together, can two schools close together work closely with local agreement to close one with minimal upset to the kids and community? Look for alternate solutions they may be your only chance.
And lastly…good luck!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I would fully endorse Mark Carter when he said “If I could suggest the findings of what we learnt; schools and communities must stick together, there is no strength divided, even schools that have not been targeted this time round”.
In 2000 six schools in Argyll, including my children’s school Toward Primary, were threatened with closure by Argyll and Bute Council.
We should all recognize there can be good reasons why a school should close down. But it should be a last resort for long term educational reasons, and there are also likely to be major and permanent economic and social damage caused to communities. It should not be a response to a short term financial situation – which is how this council is presenting it now, despite the new statutory framework which they seem unaware of.
As they had down the years with other series of school closures, so the council in 2000 were cynically and deliberately pursuing divide and rule. They told us that only three or four of the six threatened schools would close, so we were encouraged to fight against the other five schools to justify our survival.
The six schools refused to accept this and we all stood together – consensual co-operative action that Argyll and Bute Council could not understand, did not expect, and had no idea how to deal with.
I did some background research on the educational and financial arguments Argyll and Bute Council were making for closure in 2000. I then submitted a petition to the Scottish Parliament based on research I did which showed that the council’s claims were spurious or seriously misleading. The petition was on behalf of, and supported by, all six threatened Argyll schools, using Toward Primary as indicative case.
The Parliament then appointed Cathy Peattie MSP to investigate the petition, she found in favour of it, and the Parliament’s Education Committee unanimously endorsed her report.
Was the council shamed and humbled by this exposure? Not a bit of it. Instead they were furious and saw this as intruding on their right to govern. They were forced reluctantly to back down in the face of the Peattie Report, but instead of eating humble pie and abandoning their discredited programme they grudgingly said they had just “suspended” closure decisions on the six schools.
The Cathy Peattie Report damning the council can be seen at the end of the Parliament’s Education Committee meeting in 2000 at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/historic/education/papers-00/edp00-22.pdf
They have waited ten years to end this “suspension” and start the programme again and they see the current financial situation as their opportunity.
It will be up to each set of parents and local community to decide if their local school is worth fighting for. But from bitter experience I can say that if they do, they can expect more misleading information and divide and rule tactics from the council, setting rural school against rural school and urban communities against rural communities. If schools allow this council to play their standard divide and rule game, then the chances are they have lost already.
Neil Kay
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
My first thoughts on reading the Council’s documents on school closures were ones of bemusement. I naturally focused on our own “award winning school” of Barcaldine, rated number 1 in Argyll in terms of educational efficiency by the Council itself. Despite a full roll and being the only community facility in our village, despite its great location, despite the last excellent HMI report, despite the fact that all of our children get a great education, despite the fact they are very happy there, despite closure not saving any money, despite all this and more, the Council have decreed that Barcaldine with its 23 pupils should close.
Bemusement and even dismissal. It is so stupid to close a school like Barcaldine that they cannot be serious, Inclusion in the list is just for completeness and it will soon be dropped….
However, on reading about all of the other schools judged fit for closure my bemusement is rapidly turning to anger. This is not a list of failing schools with tiny rolls. Instead I see other great schools, providing great education for their pupils; other schools that are the heart of their villages, all marked for closure. I see completely inappropriate pairings (Luss to Helensburgh for God’ sake!). These proposals are nothing short of social vandalism. Inept social vandalism.
We, the people of Argyll, our children and all the children of Argyll still to come deserve so much better than this and I urge every one of us to ensure that these proposals are thrown out and the Council comes back with serious proposals that make sense.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
No School- no Council Tax
Like or Dislike:
0 
0