‘Terrible’ move to split children from peers

A class at a small west Fife school will effectively be split in half due to Fife Council’s catchment review.

Four girls and a boy from Limekilns Primary have been told they will go to Inverkeithing High, while the remaining seven P7 pupils will attend Woodmill High as originally planned, as they have older brothers and sisters there.

Eleven-year-olds Kayleigh Roy and Lexi Cruickshank are among those devastated and dreading the initial weeks at secondary school without their peers.

Kayleigh’s mother, Kathryn Fairfield, said her daughter is feeling very anxious and upset.

“Woodmill has been the catchment school for Limekilns for the last 40 years,” she said.

“During the last three years the primary sevens have been going there for music festivals, enterprise and sporting events and had started to build links in advance.

“To get a letter two days before the end of the Christmas term saying ‘you’re not going to the school you thought’ was a shock.”

The Limekilns children are numbers 91 to 95 on a waiting list to get into Woodmill if a place becomes available, effectively meaning there is no chance of them joining their friends.

Both Kathryn and Lexi’s mum, Claire Cruickshank, said they have no issue with the quality of education on offer at Inverkeithing but are worried about the emotional effect the move would have on their daughters and the practicalities of travelling to and from a school so far from home.

While pupil transport will be provided by Fife Council, anyone trying to make their own way home due to after-school activities would face a journey of an hour and 20 minutes on two buses.

Claire said Lexi is equally upset that she will not get to be with her classmates. “Their peers and support group will be at Woodmill,” she said.

“This is basically a sticking plaster for two years until it is sorted out and it will leave a handful of Limekilns children at Inverkeithing with no support. It’s a terrible situation to be in.”