Consultation is set to decide schools' future

Hamish Hutchinson • Published 23 Dec 2009 10:45 0 Comments

A CONSULTATION into the future of St John's and Claremont primaries will take place - with a final decision on a possible merger of the two schools being made by April next year.

As previously reported in the Advertiser, the Scottish Government has confirmed that it would provide funding towards a new building which would serve both catchment areas.

Work has been on-going through the 3-12 Working Groups and other forums to identify the future delivery of early years and primary education in Alloa West, and a paper outlining the options available to the council, including separate refurbishments and new builds, went before a meeting on Thursday.

However, the paper concluded that the most cost effective method would be to build one new school to serve pupils of both St John's and Claremont primaries.

At the moment, St John's Primary is the only building in the council's school estate to be rated in the poorest category for its condition, and councillors agreed that the school no longer provided a suitable environment in which to educate children.

While Claremont Primary is in better condition, the building is reaching an age when it will start to require on-going amounts of maintenance.

At Thursday's meeting, Councillor George Matchette welcomed the funding from the Government and said that the county's children deserved to be in the best environment possible for learning.

He said, "When we were developing our secondary schools, it was clear there were a number of primary schools that could be doing with a lot of investment.

"I visited St John's Primary recently and it was like stepping into a time warp. I found it very difficult to remain in that environment.

"At Claremont we have children being taught in portable buildings - it is absolutely scandalous what we are doing. I would urge us all to support this and to approve the consultation period."

Councillor Craig Holden stressed that if a proposed merger was approved, it was vital that both schools were adequately maintained until the new building was ready to ensure pupils' education did not suffer in the interim period.

The SNP's Mark English said the council couldn't afford not to take up the offer of funding from the Scottish Government.

He said, "A first class education is what we all aspire to for our children.

"The fact we are being offered pound by pound funding is a great gift we can't turn down.

"We were keen to look at all the options available to us and it became apparent to us that there was educational benefits to be had with regard to smaller schools with a roll of around 300, and we would have been keen in different circumstances to pursue that option.

"But given the financial pressures the council is under and the fact that it only applied for funding for one school, we really took on board its views.

"We welcome the three month consultation period, although we do have concerns with regards to the maintenance of the current schools."

It is likely that any new school would be built on playing fields at Redwell, but the SNP raised concerns over the suitability of the land.

Mr English continued, "Should parents consent to a new build at Redwell then serious consideration will need to be given to access over what is a busy road.

"There are strong concerns over noise from the railway which has been the focus of concerns in the community, and all these would need to be addressed before we felt comfortable with a build at Redwell."

Plans for both St John's and Claremont primaries will be finalised after a consultation with parents, staff and other stake holders, which will run until the end of March.

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