Southend Primary School a step closer to full closure
Southend Primary School this week took another step nearer to closing its doors for good.
Councillors have been asked to give education bosses the green light to draw up a draft closure plan for the school which is currently mothballed and has had no requests from the community to be used for events while it has been in that state.
A consultation on the future of the school was conducted by Argyll and Bute Council last year, with the majority of respondents feeling that closure was the best option.
A report went before the council’s community services committee yesterday (Thursday), which said: “Southend Primary School was previously very active within the community. It was a focus for social and educational events.
“The pupils invited the community to attend events on many occasions every year as well as community members volunteering with drama productions and activities such as golfing lessons.
“Whilst being mothballed, there were no requests for the building to be used for such events, with Dunaverty Hall, a community-managed charity that hosts various community events, being the hub of the village.
“A community engagement meeting was held in Southend Primary School, on November 17, 2022.
“This was to seek the views of the community on the future of Southend Primary School. This meeting was attended by 43 people.
“There was also a meeting in Dalintober Primary School to gather opinions from parents who will be impacted by any decision that is made in relation to Southend Primary School.
“Dalintober Primary School has three members of staff re-deployed from Southend.
“Virtual meetings took place with a young person from Campbeltown Grammar School, who was impacted by the mothballing of Southend Primary School, and the head teacher of Southend Primary School, who currently teaches at Dalintober Primary.
“The head teacher at Dalintober took part in a virtual meeting. Meetings were also offered to Castlehill and Drumlemble Parent Councils.
“Three secondary aged young people and one primary aged young person participated in the community engagement meeting. The parent and toddler group within Southend were contacted on two occasions to be given the opportunity to feed into the preliminary engagement exercise.
“An email contact was also given to individuals during the community engagement event to encourage more feedback from this group. No response was received.”
The report added: “The majority of the community felt that continuing to mothball the school was not an option. It was felt that a decision should be made as the building would only continue to deteriorate.
“A small number felt this might be beneficial to allow pre-five children in the area to get to the stage where they were ready to attend school.
“The majority of the community believed that the most viable option is to formally close the school, as the decline in the school roll had been as a result of parents choosing to send their children to schools within the Campbeltown area.
“There was a small percentage of people in support of opening the school, but said that they would need to see what this looked like before they were able to commit to sending their child to school there.
“There are 18 children who attend a local baby and toddler group. This was seen as a strong reason to keep the school open by some members of the community.
“The group was approached to provide feedback and members of the group were encouraged to discuss and provide feedback via direct email. Neither opportunity provided further feedback.
“The community were all in agreement that changing the catchment area would not be a viable option given the geographical area.”
If the recommendations were agreed, a draft closure proposal is to go before the same committee in August.