Parents ready to fight school rezoning plan
Anger over bid to divert pupils to Shotts school
A group of Salsburgh residents are planning a petition opposing the rezoning of Kirk O’Shotts Primary which would see pupils transferring to a high school in Shotts instead of Airdrie.
They shared their concerns at a public meeting on North Lanarkshire Council’s proposal for youngsters to move on to Calderhead High rather than Caldervale – described in the local authority consultation as aligning Kirk O’Shotts Primary with “its natural hinterland of Shotts”.
Public consultation is taking place until February 23 on the proposal, which has been developed to “meet the aspiration of the Kirk O’Shotts community for alignment with Calderhead High”.
If the change goes ahead, a transitional arrangement will apply until 2023 which would see transferring pupils with older siblings currently in attendance at Caldervale still having an automatic option of transferring to the Towers Road school.
Salsburgh resident Karen Carson insists the village has “absolutely no community links” to Shotts, and she and others are now contacting councillors with their objections.
Karen has three grandchildren at Kirk O’Shotts Primary – two of whom would still be able to move on to high school in Airdrie while their cousin would be expected to go to Calderhead.
She said: “There are only around 11 children per primary year. If half have an older sibling they can go to Caldervale, which leaves half a dozen going to Calderhead, where there are no older pupils in front of them and they won’t know a soul.
“Children will want to go to high school with their older siblings, but then they are away from their friends, so it’s splitting up peer groups at a time when it’s a big transition and they could feel isolated.
“It’s inequitable that some will have the choice of secondaries but not all. Families can make a placing request [to Caldervale], but would then have to pay for transport themselves so there’s a financial implication.”
Consultation papers describe Shotts as “closer, and with which the area has close associations”; and continue that the Salsburgh school’s transfer link to Airdrie “presents a disconnect between the school community and the local area partnership structure”.
Karen said: “Salsburgh has no community links to Shotts. Shopping and socialising are done in Airdrie, services like health visitors and the rent office are in Airdrie, and there isn’t a direct bus route to Shotts.
“The distance from where the kids get the bus to the two high schools is only different by a fifth of a mile and there would be no great impact on roll numbers at either school.
“Why are they only rezoning Kirk O’Shotts Primary and not the whole village of Salsburgh?
“My concern is that it’s the first move towards closing the school.
“Quite a few of us at the meeting aren’t happy and we’re planning to start a petition and go round the village.”
A spokesman for North Lanarkshire Council said: “A consultation is currently underway on proposals to realign Kirk O’Shotts Primar y from Caldervale High in Airdrie to Calderhead High in Shotts.
“All views and comments will be taken into consideration and included in a final report for councillors to consider at a future meeting of the education committee.
“Interested parties are invited to submit their comments, by emailing kirkoshottsconsultation@ northlan.gov.uk, on or before February 23.”