School catchment appeal to parents

Complaining Dundee residents could stop split

Invergowrie parents believe that Dundee residents could hold the key to stopping their children being “torn apart” if changes to a school catchment area are confirmed.

Concerns are mounting that friendship groups will be destroyed if the proposal to remove Invergowrie primary as a feeder school for Harris Academy goes ahead.

The majority of Invergowrie pupils would face a 40-mile round trip every day to attend secondary school in Perth as of August 2021 – despite the Dundee school being located only two miles away.

Invergowrie residents do not have any elected members representing them on Dundee City Council (DCC), which will make the decision on the future of the school.

So they are urging Dundee residents to call on their councillors to reject the plan.

Perth and Kinross Council area resident Leigh Hebenton, and mother to Invergowrie pupil Chloe, said: “I have many concerns about these proposals but one of the main ones is the fact that friendship groups will be torn apart in P7.

“My daughter is best friends with Molly who lives in Dundee.

“Chloe will need to go to Perth High while Molly will be able to go to Harris Academy.

“There are so many friendship groups this would affect.”

Laura Irvine, mother to Molly, said: “It would be very sad to see our children grow up together then be sent in opposite directions simply because they live on opposite sides of a road.

“I am really hoping that Dundee Council can see the impact this will have on our children’s lives and allow Invergowrie children to continue to be educated at Harris.”

This comes after Invergowrie pupils handed over letters to education convener at DCC Councillor Stewart Hunter, earlier this week pleading with DCC to allow pupils to continue attending Harris to stop breaking up long-established friendships.

Councillor Angus Forbes, who represents the Carse of Gowrie ward at Perth and Kinross Council, said: “These children fall in no man’s land. They are residents of one local authority but are educated at another and as a result they don’t have any democratic input to