Skipness school closer to closure
The closure of a Kintyre primary school is a step closer after councillors were recommended to accept a proposal to close it.
Skipness Primary School has been mothballed since 2016. The annual cost of mothballing the school to Argyll and Bute Council is more than £1,600 and it would cost £75,000 to bring the building back up to a required standard for the next school year in August.
Members of the council’s community services committee were due to debate the proposal at its meeting yesterday (Thursday March 12).
Should it be accepted, the plans to close would be subject to statutory consultation under the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.
A report by executive director with responsibility for education Douglas Hendry said: ‘It is proposed that education provision at Skipness Primary School be discontinued with effect from October 28 2020.
‘The catchment area of Tarbert Primary School shall be extended to include the current catchment area of
Skipness Primary School. Skipness Primary School has been mothballed for three years. The school roll is very low and not predicted to rise in the near future. The annual cost of the mothballing of the building is £1,641.
‘Argyll and Bute is facing increasing challenges in recruiting staff. At the time of writing, there are 12 fulltime equivalent vacancies for teachers in Argyll and Bute.
‘Whilst the school is mothballed, the building is deteriorating with limited budget for maintenance.’
The school’s future first went out to consultation after the committee’s September meeting, with a further update given in December.
An options appraisal event was held in October, with 22 people in attendance who were asked for their views on what should happen next.
The report added: ‘Of the 22 community members that attended the options appraisal event, no-one was in support of re-opening the school because of the lack of feasibility due to low pupil numbers. If the school were to re-open in August 2020, the number of pupils from the catchment area would be one.
‘It has been stated that without a viable number of pupils for the school, parents would not be considering placing their children at Skipness Primary School if it were to re-open. If the school were to re-open, sustainability may not be viable due to the fact pupil numbers over the next four years are not predicted to rise.’
Continuing the mothballing process was also floated as an option, but the report said: ‘There was a significant view at the community meetings that mothballing the school over a long period was wasteful due to deterioration of the property and potentially affected sustainability of the community. Pupil numbers are not predicted to rise in terms of pre-school children living within the catchment area. Mothballing had no positive impact on the reasons for the proposal.’
The report also states re-opening the school and extending its catchment area was also deemed an unsuitable option by those in attendance at the event.