School should get new name

Two Perth and Kinross councillors have requested the replacement school at North Muirton is not automatically called North Muirton Primary School.

A proposal of application notice (PAN) for a replacement school at North Muirton was presented to PKC’s planning and development management committee on Wednesday (April 29).

The building will house pupils from both North Muirton PS and Balhousie PS. Balhousie is scheduled to close in 2022.

Cllr Tom Gray, who sits on the planning committee, was keen to raise the issue of the future school’s name - a potential source of conflict.

At Wednesday’s online meeting, the SNP councillor said:“Any naming should not be North Muirton but some sort of combination between Balhousie and North Muirton.”

He suggested that any future council papers do not make reference to the school as North Muiton to avoid the school“being tarred as that.”

Cllr Gray later told the PA he raised the issue of the school name having spoken to Cllr John Rebbeck prior to the meeting.

He said:“This PAN being in North Muirton and knowing Cllr John Rebbeck represented Perth North and was highly committed to the lifelong learning committee, I felt it appropriate to ask John if he had any thoughts on the proposed development.

“Being a passionate and particularly sensitive colleague, he immediately raised the naming issue with regard to the need to protect ownership and identity of the new school by both pupils from Balhousie and North Muirton schools, both being replaced by this project.”

Cllr John Rebbeck, who does not sit on the planning committee but is the SNP’s education spokesperson at PKC, told the PA:“It is vital that the merged schools of North Muirton Primary and Balhousie Primary respect both school communities when considering things like a new school name and uniform.

“This will ensure a smooth transition and allow them to come together in a common purpose going forward”