Glencorse Primary school to close

Tuesday January 19th 2021

Glencorse-Primary


Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp

A primary school with just seven pupils is to close after councillors backed education chief’s recommendations.

The closure of Glencorse Primary School had been put to a public consultation by Midlothian Council during the latter part of last year.

And a virtual meeting of the local authority this week was told that only two people attended a public meeting on the closure, held in Beeslack High School, while one member of the public attended a virtual public meeting held via Zoom a few days later.

Fiona Robertson, the council’s education head, said that 96 responses to the consultation survey were received in total, with 31 supporting the proposal to close the school and 64 against.

However, she said Education Scotland had backed the council’s view that closing Glencorse and moving the children to neighbouring Mauricewood or Roslin Primary Schools would widen their breadth of education.

The decision was opposed by some councillors, with Councillor Kelly Parry criticising the move to close the school during the current crisis.

She said of the decision following the public consultation: “It might be legal and it might have followed the correct process but it does not make it right.

“We are sitting in the middle of a pandemic and we are seriously talking about closing [the children’s] school.”

Councillor Parry raised concerns about a lack of engagement with parents at the school and the wider community over the decision.

She was backed by fellow councillor Debbi McCall, who said she had been told parents who wanted to enrol their children at Glencorse had been actively discouraged or told they could not.

She said: “It is almost as if there was a by-hell-or-high-water determination to close this school.”

The meeting heard that 78 children lived in the catchment for Glencorse but only seven pupils attended and no new primary one intake had been registered since 2017.

Councillor Russell Imrie backed the closure, hitting back at opposition to it by questioning how many of those people objecting “had the option to send their child to Glencorse and chose not to”.

The decision to approve recommendations to close Glencorse Primary School was approved by 12 votes to four.

Later Midlothian Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, Councillor Jim Muirhead said:

“Many thanks to everyone who gave their views during the consultation.

“We realise today’s decision will be disappointing to some families and, while we recognise the quality of the education provision at the school, we agree it will be beneficial for children to move to either Roslin or Mauricewood nearby where they can enjoy a wider range and breadth of learning opportunities with children at the same age and stage as them.”

The council must notify Scottish Ministers within six days of the decision and provide them with a copy of the proposal document and consultation proposal. The Scottish Ministers have eight weeks from the date of that final decision to decide if they will call-in the proposal. The legislation allows for anyone to make representations to Scottish Ministers within three weeks of the decision to close the school.

The consultation report and the Education Scotland report are at www.midlothian.gov.uk/glencorse

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