Rural school to close for good
A rural Stirlingshire school is to be permanently closed.
Stirling Council had conducted a consultation on proposals to permanently close mothballed Buchanan Primary School near Drymen.
The Scottish Government has now given the move the green light after Scottish Ministers confirmed that they won’t be calling the matter in, leaving the council with the final say.
Jennifer Staermosejohnson of the School Funding, Infrastructure and Organisation Unit at the Scottish Government’s Learning Directorate announced: “Having reviewed the documents provided by Stirling Council under section 15(2) and considered all relevant representations made under section 15(4), Ministers consider that Stirling Council has fulfilled its obligations under the 2010 Act and do not intend to issue a call-in notice for this proposal.
“Stirling Council may now implement its decision to close Buchanan Primary School in line with the timescales set out in its proposal paper.
“As noted in Education Scotland’s report, on the closure of Buchanan Primary School Stirling Council should work with the community to explore how to make best use of the former Buchanan Primary School building.”
The council has since been in touch with Drymen Community Council to inform them that education provision will cease permanently from the building with effect from June 24 this year.
Pupils within the Buchanan PS catchment area will continue with the current arrangement of attending Drymen Primary School or whichever school they are currently attending.
The Drymen Primary catchment area will be permanently altered to include Buchanan Primary’s catchment area from June 25.
In correspondence with the community council, Stirling Council said: “Discussion will now take place with pupils and staff at Drymen Primary School and with some former pupils of Buchanan Primary School who currently attend Balfron High School about an appropriate way to mark the permanent closure of Buchanan PS during this term.”
A public consultation was launched last September seeking views on the permanent closure.
The school has been mothballed since January 2018 following a steady fall in enrolment over the previous five school sessions, with zero children enrolled at the school in October 2017.