Four City Schools Warned They Face Axe As Pupil Numbers Fall

By Gareth Rose

FOUR schools have been warned they risk being closed under plans by education chiefs to cope with falling school rolls.

Senior education councillors say Fort, Victoria, Leith and Leith Walk are favourites for the axe among Leith schools.

Education chiefs face having to close a quarter of primaries in Edinburgh because of dwindling pupil numbers.

A committee comprising councillors, union officials, school representatives and parents has begun a series of meetings to discuss how the schools will be chosen – and Leith was the subject of the first meeting. Although no schools have yet been recommended for closure, councillors and committee members Jim Lowrie and Jeremy Balfour today said four were “at risk”.

Councillor Lowrie, education spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: “Four schools have about 200 pupils or less. It’s feasible that more than one of those would close – it might be two or possibly three.”

But education leader Ewan Aitken said no schools had yet been earmarked for closure.

Just 81 pupils attend Fort, which has a capacity of 324. There are 117 children at Victoria, 82 short of its capacity. Leith Primary has 193 pupils, but could take 469. Even Leith Walk, which with 208 pupils has the largest roll of the four, is only half- full.

The primary school closures debate was sparked by the revelation that if pupil numbers continue to fall, the council will be left with the equivalent of 27 empty schools by 2013, and only enough money to run three- quarters of them.

But new Scottish Executive figures, revealed in the Evening News, said the city council may have over-estimated that problem, with Edinburgh likely to have 300 more P1 pupils than previously thought. That would save some schools from closure, but not all.

A public consultation is likely to be held in the autumn, and school rolls will be discussed, along with the state of buildings, the spread of schools in an area and future housing developments.

Cllr Lowrie said: “Nothing has been decided but the figures speak for themselves. Those four schools are at risk. Fort was put up for closure before. But that idea was dropped because of pressure from parents.

“They still want to keep it open but it is not providing value for money. The area around the school is not going to grow so it is unlikely the roll will increase.”

Coucillor Ewan Aitken, city education leader, said: “These are Cllr Lowrie’s opinions. The committee does not have a list of favourites [for closure] or anything else.

“There’s still much to discuss before we get to the point of conversation and consultation.”

However, the Conservative group in Edinburgh are opposed to the council’s plans for school closures to be decided through consultation. They want to see the decision put in the hands of parents by giving them more freedom over where to send their pupils.

Cllr Balfour said: “If a parent wants to send their child to a certain school, that should be for the parent to decide. If a school is failing to attract pupils, we need to look at why that is, look at the resources and teachers, and see what we can do to help.”