Council may react to parents’ concerns 26/6/08
Senior figures at the council are trying to put a bright face on last night’s messy full council meeting which decided to award a stay of execution to all the seven rural secondary schools.
Council bosses now want to salvage something from the chaos. They may listen to parents’ concerns over the closures to find a less confrontational route to shut the rural secondaries.
The deferral is pending a decision on a report to be brought forward in relation to the provision of education up to the fourth level (S1-S3) of Curriculum for Excellence in all current S1 S2 schools in the Western Isles. The report will also cover Lionel and Shawbost.
Murdo Macleod, Director of Education, said: “The early stages of secondary education within the proposed new 3-18 curriculum will bring pupils up to the third and fourth levels.
“As currently constituted, the S1/2 schools are not resourced, equipped or staffed to deliver to the fourth level.
“The Comhairle has asked for this to be quantified and costed to assess its viability prior to taking a decision on the matter.
“In the meantime S1/2 provision at all the S1/2 schools will be available next session. Work will also continue on the Western Isles Schools Project which is designed to build five new schools.”
Vice-Convener Angus Campbell said: “There were two encouraging aspects from last night’s decision of the Comhairle.
“One is that the Comhairle is clearly of the view that the S1/S2 provision is not a viable option for delivering ‘A Curriculum for Excellence’ and we need to consider other options.
“Secondly, there was a clear commitment from the Comhairle to treat all areas of the Outer Hebrides fairly. Once the decisions to defer the discontinuation of S1/S2 at two schools were taken, it made sense to treat all the S1/S2 schools in the same way.
“There is now an opportunity for us to take stock on the way forward for educational provision in the Outer Hebrides.
“We can look at concerns raised during the consultation processes and see if we can find a way forward to provide the best educational provision for pupils across the Western Isles in suitable accommodation and taking account of pupil welfare which were clearly issues of concern to parents. We are organising a seminar to be held in the near future to discuss these issues and allay these concerns.”
