News / Northmavine ready to fight school closures
PARENTS in Northmavine are gearing up for battle after Shetland Islands Council announced it was consulting on closing two primary schools in the area.
Plans to consult on closing North Roe and Urafirth primaries along with Urafirth nursery were put on hold last year after the SIC agreed to carry out further consultation.
However on Friday the SIC announced the original plans were back on the table, with the proposal being that all of Northmavine’s children go to the primary school in Ollaberry.
The proposals are part of the SIC’s ambition to save £3 million from its overstretched education budget as the council as a whole tries to rein in its out of control spending.
Last September Shetland North councillor Alastair Cooper questioned the proposal to close North Roe and Urafirth, saying there needed to be a “conversation” with the parent councils about which of the three primaries should remain open.
Education staff held meetings with the three parent councils this year and asked them to rate various aspects of their school, including the standard of education, the state of the building, the cost of running each school and transport issues, such as travel times and access.
A table was compiled and presented to children’s services director Helen Budge who decided last week to proceed with the original plan to consult on closing Urafirth and North Roe.
Quality improvement manager Audrey Edwards said they had looked at “the future flexibility and suitability of the building and the quality of education on offer”.
Cooper said that Ollaberry and Urafirth had been vying with each other to come out as the preferred receiving school and he wanted to make sure parents throughout Northmavine received a fair hearing.
“I was concerned that education (staff) had decreed Ollaberry would be the receiving school and we had not given parent councils the opportunity to have a discussion on the subject,” he said.
“I am content that we have now gone through a process and folk have had an opportunity to have their views heard.”
Urafirth parent council chairwoman Clare Herridge said there was a great deal of disappointment in the community about the decision to consult on closure.
“We will be meeting again on Sunday and Wednesday with the parents council and the parents forum to see how we are going to proceed because we are going to fight this as hard as we can,” she said.
In North Roe parents face their fifth fight against council plans to close the school, while in Ollaberry there is discomfort about communities being pitted against each other by the council.
The full proposal paper will be available online at http://www.shetland.gov.uk/education/schools_reconfiguration_project.asp from 16 April when the consultation begins. Printed copies will available from Hayfield House and Shetland Library in Lerwick as well as the three affected schools. The consultation ends on 30 May.
SIC education and families chairwoman Vaila Wishart urged as many people as possible to participate in the consultation.
“This is the opportunity to record your views and let us know what you think,” she said.
If the closures go ahead children in Northmavine will all attend nursery and primary school in Ollaberry from 19 August 2015.
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