Decisive meeting for school
Councillors will be asked next week to start a consultation which could result in a rural Perthshire school being shut.
Councillors on the lifelong learning committee will be asked to agree to the consultation on Abernyte Primary School when they meet on Wednesday, August 22.
Should they agree, the consultation will begin, as part of Perth and Kinross Council’s ongoing review of its school estate.
It was agreed at the committee’s meeting in March that a further assessment should be undertaken of the potential for changing the school’s catchment area.
The proposal was to assess an area of the current Inchture Primary School catchment lying to the north of the A90, to determine whether this would provide an increased and sustainable school roll for Abernyte.
The assessment included engagement with parents and carers in that area and Abernyte’s own catchment, and the findings were used to update the options appraisal for the school.
As a result of the outcomes from this assessment, the committee will be asked to agree a recommendation that statutory consultation takes place on a proposal to close Abernyte Primary School, which if implemented, would see pupils moved to Inchture Primary School.
Lifelong learning convener, Councillor Caroline Shiers said:“The
Abernyte Primary could be the latest school to go school estate review we are undertaking requires detailed consideration of a range of factors: the condition and suitability of school buildings, occupancy levels, and educational benefit for pupils.
“We have to be thorough in our approach and particularly in relation to rural schools.
“This has very much been the case for Abernyte where there has been further assessment of the catchment area change proposal put forward by the school’s parent council.
“The findings of that further assessment suggest strongly, however, that making such a change would not have the impact required to sustain the schools roll in the long-term.”