A school closure has implications for whole village

New bags and pencil cases, shined shoes and newly cut hair – another school year begins.

Teachers prepare themselves for another year and parents sigh a secret sigh of relief that things are getting back to‘normal’.

It is a landmark moment in the year, not just for pupils, parents and teachers , but for all the rest of us as well.

There is a different routine to the communal day, busy times for traffic are slightly but noticeably different, there is that cacophony of joyous noise when you pass a school during playtime.

There is a palpable sense that summer is drawing to a close and that autumn is approaching.

For those with children starting in primary one or in the first year of secondary school that sense of transition will be very real indeed.

It is a time full of hope and anticipation - clean slates and world of opportunity ahead.

I wish everyone all the very best at this important time.

What a shame, then, that the Tory-led administration of Perth and Kinross Council chose this week to introduce a sense of uncertainty and insecurity for the staff, pupils, parents and, indeed, communities, served by five schools in Perth and Kinross, including two in my constituency.

These schools are in the second phase of the council’s schools review and that phase is now underway and is expected to continue until May next year.

There are a further seven schools in the third phase who will have to wait another year to learn their fate.

I acknowledge that it is a difficult balancing act in times when every penny has to be carefully accounted for to maintain small, particularly, rural schools.

But there needs to be a very explicit acknowledgement that there is a far more complex calculation to be done about their‘value’, and sustainability that goes far beyond a profit and loss assessment of the financial cost of running them.

Closing a village school does not just affect the teachers and other staff who work there or the pupils who attend it and their families.

It goes beyond a longer day with travel to another school further away.

There are implication for the wider community, too.

A school can be a gathering place, a venue for classes, clubs and events throughout the year.

Schools may be facing falling rolls but the loss of a school makes a village that bit less attractive to people with young families deciding whether to move into – or, indeed, stay in that village.

The loss of the facilities the school provides, can make a village a less attractive prospect for any prospective new residents.

And, so, a cycle of decline can be begun. If this review process is indeed to go ahead, then those most closely affected need to be given clarity about the council’s intentions and be dealt with compassionately along the way.