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Students Against Closures <saveedinburghschools>

	Newspaper Article Including SCHOOLS INVOLVED	828 days ago
	School's out as 16 to be closed GARETH ROSE EDUCATION REPORTER (grose@edinburghnews.com) TWENTY-TWO schools are to be closed across the city in the biggest programme of its kind seen in Edinburgh. Three high schools, 13 primaries and six nurseries have been earmarked for closure - within as little as a year - as the council battles to solve a £10 million funding crisis. Falling rolls had forced the local authority to review the number of state schools in the city. But plans announced today were far more wide-reaching than expected. Four community centres have also been earmarked for closure in a move which will save £3m a year. Some of that money will go into making improvements at the schools which will take children from the ones that close. The sale of most of the properties will also raise over £16m. The council has promised to keep all playing fields at closing schools as public green spaces. Some buildings will be offered for rent to the NHS and the police. The proposals will now go out to public consultation and are expected to be the subject of some fierce community protests. The city's education leader, Councillor Marilyne MacLaren, said the closures were for educational, not financial, reasons. However, the council's dire financial position meant she had been forced to draw up the list sooner than she would have liked- just three months after she took up her post. "We need to take decisions quickly," she said. "I would have liked time to look at the whole estate, using the same criteria, at a more leisurely pace. I feel I have been accelerated into this process." But she said there were pressing reasons for closing schools. "We've got deteriorating school buildings, not fit for purpose, and in some cases two-thirds empty," she said. "We need to take a good, long, hard look at the estate and see how we can provide the best environment for the youngsters. "Children, teachers and staff get attached to buildings, we understand that, but it is the only way to go to modernise our estate. We're looking to integrate our services where we can, to have primaries near to secondaries, and nurseries next to primaries. We are also looking to put health facilities on school sites, and maybe police." But Malcolm Chisholm, Labour MSP for Edinburgh North & Leith, said today: "I am appalled that so many popular and well-respected schools in my constituency are up for closure. I will do all I can to help the parents in resisting these proposals." Council leaders said they had more than doubled the six primary and one secondary school which they said had been privately earmarked for closure before the May elections. The council also estimates it will save £9m in running costs over three years, rather than the £12m predicted under the old Labour administration. However, the new Lib Dem-SNP council leadership believes the previous estimates were highly optimistic, and their own fairly conservative. Among the schools targeted for closure is Craigmillar High, while plans to build a new £30m Castlebrae Community High School by 2009 face being scrapped, as the existing school has the lowest occupancy rate of any secondary in the Capital, at just 41 per cent. Instead, pupils will be bussed to Liberton High. In Bingham, where the Lismore Parents Action Group formed in 2004 to campaign against council closures, the primary school has been put forward for the axe again, along with the nearby community centre. Two of the secondary schools facing closure - Castlebrae and Wester Hailes Education Centre - received £3m in funding from the Sir Tom Hunter Foundation, aimed at helping under-achieving pupils, which has seen a hairdressing salon and engineering yard built at Castlebrae. The third, Drummond Community High, was refurbished as part of the first phase of the PPP school-building programme. It is expected to be converted to hold one or possibly two primary schools if the closure goes ahead. The 13 primary school buildings earmarked for closure have been valued at £16m, with most likely to be sold off. Officials have yet to value the high schools, nurseries and community education centres. Providing improvements can be carried out at the schools which will take their pupils, the 13 primaries and three secondaries named today will be open for just one more year. Lindsay Glasgow, asset planning manager in the children and families department, said: "With schools, the first factors we looked at were the obvious ones, low rolls and empty buildings. "Then we looked at patterns of movement and parental choice, whether there's lots of parents requesting places at out-of- catchment schools. "We also looked at catchment numbers and whether there were too many school places for the local area. "With early years we looked at similar types of information, but in particular the buildings - some are very limited and small, with very little space to provide services for children. "Likewise with community centres we looked at the buildings and whether they could perform their functions, and whether there were other facilities in the area offering similar functions." The council sees an ideal primary school as having 400 pupils, or two classes at each year level, and between 900 and 1200 pupils at secondaries. Because schools are allocated funding based on the number of children they have, this ensures they get enough money to run a full and varied curriculum. Gillian Tees, director of education, children and families, said: "We've lost £8m in funding from the Scottish Executive over the last five years because of falling school rolls. "It costs double the amount to keep a child in a low population school compared to an average one - about £6780-a-year compared to £3400. "The original proposals did include a smaller number of schools to be closed. We're coming forward with many more schools. We've been really realistic in our financial assumptions. "It could be that we can deliver more savings, but we are not being driven by finance and savings." Following the consultation, the council will have a clearer idea of which schools will see an influx of children coming from those which have been shut. However, even before those decisions have been taken, surveys will be carried out to see exactly how much work needs to be done and how long it will take. The closures come on the back of a period of record-breaking school building and refurbishment in the Capital through PPP schemes. As well as Drummond, four other secondaries, ten primaries and two special schools received work as part of PPP1, which is now complete at a cost of £130m. Work has just started on the second phase, PPP2, which is seeing six high schools and two primaries refurbished or rebuilt at an eventual cost of £550m. The council is now waiting on a spending review being carried out by the Scottish Executive, and is hoping to attract funding for a third, £100m, programme of work at a number of schools, which it hopes will be completed in stages by 2011 and 2012. Ms Tees said: "If we implement these closures in full, 60 per cent of primary school pupils, and 40 per cent of those in secondaries, would be in new or refurbished schools by the end of the PPP2 programme." Councillor Andrew Burns, the city's Labour education spokesman, said: "The scale of this is breath-taking. "They are talking about closing 26 educational establishments and cramming the consultations into eight months. "That's unacceptable and this has not been thought through." Councillor Jeremy Balfour, the city's Tory education spokesman, said: "This report is completely unacceptable social engineering through the front door. "The council is taking literally no notice of what parents are choosing to do. "Closing good small schools like Dalmeny will kill that village." Early Years Cameron House Nursery School Has only enough capacity to accommodate 26 children, and has had difficulty attracting part-time pupils for afternoon sessions. Grassmarket Nursery School • A multilingual and historic nursery specialising in taking children from troubled backgrounds. High School Yards Nursery School • Another nursery in a beautiful old building which dates back to the 16th century. The council believes there is too little outdoor space for children to play. Princess Elizabeth Nursery School • Another which has struggled to attract youngsters for afternoon sessions, it is also not suitable for children or adults with mobility problems. Victoria Park Child and Family Centre • The building is in a poor condition and unsuitable for children. Westfield Court Nursery School • Based on the eighth floor of a high-rise building, the council has concerns about how quickly aid could be reached in an emergency. Primaries Abbeyhill Primary School • A popular school with 199 of its 219 places full, but about half come from outside the catchment and it is considered too big to serve the local area. Bonnington Primary School • It has just 116 pupils attending the 1877 Victorian building that can hold 415. They would be moved to Leith Primary. Burdiehouse Primary School • Prides itself on being well-equipped with spacious play facilities, but has a falling roll and is only half full with 140 pupils. Craigentinny Primary School • Half-empty, the council will have to find room at neighbouring schools for 372 youngsters who would ordinarily go to Craigentinny. Dalmeny Primary School • One of the victims of the falling number of children in the city, Dalmeny has a capacity of just 125, with 105 pupils currently attending, who would go to Queensferry Primary. Drumbrae Primary School • The school, which opened in 1959, has been awarded a Standard Life Education Award 'Fit for Life', Health Promoting School Stage I, Enterprise in Education, Road Safety Gold Award and Eco School Bronze Award. However, it is half empty. Hillwood Primary School • The lowest pupil roll in Edinburgh, with just 72 pupils attending, means that Hillwood's teaching costs are 70 per cent higher than the city average. Lismore Primary School • After successfully fighting closure in 2004, Lismore parents are likely to be among the most vocal in their opposition to closures. But with just 103 children, they have another fight on their hands. St Cuthbert's Primary School • One of two denominational schools earmarked for closure, it takes children from Slateford, Gorgie, Dalry, Longstone, Baberton, Juniper Green, Craiglockhart, Currie and Balerno. The council wants to merge it with St Joseph's Primary. St Catherine's Primary School • The other Catholic school up for closure. The council will have to seek approval from the Church or face going to the Scottish Executive. Stockbridge Primary School • A popular and near-full school, Stockbridge takes a large proportion of its children from outside its catchment as too few children are growing up in the local area. Victoria Primary School • On its website the school attributes its high attainment in maths, writing and reading to its pupil-teacher ratio of 18 to one. But that small pupil roll has made it vulnerable to closure, with teaching costs 60 per cent above the city average. Westburn Primary School • Another that is just a third full, about a third of the children who ordinarily should attend Westburn successfully put in placing requests to attend another school. Secondaries Castlebrae Community High School • A school which faces some of the most difficult conditions in the city, considerable effort has gone into raising standards at Castlebrae, but the council thinks it would be best to send pupils to Liberton High. Drummond Community High School • The only high school on the list not to have been targeted for extra help through the Sir Tom Hunter 20:20 vision project, Drummond has a low pupil population. The council plans to send the rest to Broughton High. Wester Hailes Education Centre • Another high school with a roll below 500 pupils, who will move to Forrester High. Wester Hailes is based in one of the city's poorer areas, meaning it is fighting an uphill battle to narrow the gap on more affluent areas with low amounts of funding. Community Centres Bingham Community Centre • The building is considered to be reaching the end of its life by the council. Gorgie War Memorial Hall Community Centre The centre is not well used and the council hopes to move evening classes and local groups to the new Tynecastle High School. Riddles Court Community Centre/St Ann's Community Centre Both are to be moved to a resource centre in South Bridge, which the council plans to renovate to accommodate the increased numbers. • For full details of how your school could be affected by the closure plans and how to make your voice heard see Monday's Evening News
	posted by Students Against Closures

9 Comments:

	Dick Banger said...	828 days ago
	whec isny a poorer area :@
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	David Reilly said...	828 days ago
	A school which faces some of the most difficult conditions in the city, considerable effort has gone into raising standards at Castlebrae, but the council thinks it would be best to send pupils to Liberton High. Send the kids to LIBERTON HIGH....You must be JOKING....the standards are raising in Castlebrae and totally ROCK BOTTOM in Liberton and no sign of improving.......unbeleivable. Funny how Labour tried its hardest to keep the schools open, and SNP come in and close them and then blame the previous administration.... Council staff are on strike on Thursday to protest against the councils cuts and possible redundancies, please show your support by joining the protesters outside the council offices on the day of the meeting where the final decisions will be made, the councillors must be forced to realise they cannot start interfering with the education of our kids and scrap the bloody money pit of an idea...the bloody tram system that no-one wants............
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	Beksterr Babess' said...	828 days ago
	i agree shaun .. there other schools that have smaller schools =@!!
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	Ailsa said...	828 days ago
	A number of 6th years from Drummond and hoepfully some others will be there on Thurs!
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	Sarah Higgins said...	828 days ago
	David, Labour didn't try their hardest to keep them open - they proposed closing certain schools in the first place! When the council was run by Reverend Ewan Aitkin of Labour, he proposed closing several schools. Now he's in opposition, he's claiming it's a travesty and they should be kept open! It just goes to show, it doesn't matter if the council is run by Labour or by the new Lib Dem/SNP coalition, they're all the same, all money grabbing bastards who couldn't give a shit about the lives of ordinary people across the city and the country. That's why I'm a member of the Scottish Socialist Party, they are the only ones who have consistently come to the aid of those in need, like we are now, and the only ones with genuine policies. Anyway enough of the party political broadcast. Save the schools! All of them!
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	Life Is Just Rosie said...	827 days ago
	who do these muppets think they are closing our schools!! GRRR a bet the schools that their kids go to wont get closed!! IDIOTS!! and how come they are keeping schools that are right next door 2 each other open???? bunch of muppets!! being serious the schools that they are closing offer more opportunities than the 1s that they keep open!!!! the smaller schools are the 1s that have better people comin out of!!! we r da pepo that should have the option wether our school gets shut or no!!!!!! and david i agree we shud get rid of the tram system cause thats just gonna put bus drivers and all them out of jobs and make EDINBURGH LOOK STUPID!!!
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	Mr Orange Sandy said...	825 days ago
	i would also like to say how much of a burden it would be on the schools that would have to except the students from the closed schools and isn't the goverment who want to keep teacher to student ratio down instead of increase that isn't this proposal compleatly hypocriticle of what the goverment has tried to acheive which is smaller class sizes and better education and wouldn't these proposals mean that the students education is deeply affected by these proposals too in my view these proposals couldn't of come at a worse time for students at the selected schools and being a ex-member of drummond community high school i would hate for it to be shut down when i have used many of the facilities that it had to offer and also these could help furthur genarations of students aswell
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	Corinna Black said...	823 days ago
	Drummond has more than 500 pupils! the classrooms are full man x
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	Scott R said...	823 days ago
	Any chance you could post the Drummond petition link on your site? Brilliant work you are all doing... keep it up, but don't burn out... remember it's a Marathon, not a sprint!! http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/drummond/ Scott
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