BLUEPRINT FOR EDUCATION
Consultation Form – Comments
Parents Meeting
Meeting area:
Bell’s Brae Primary School
Date: 24 March 2010
Facilitators:
Maria Edwards - 7
Jerry Edwards - 5
June Porter - 6
Elyse Jamieson - 5
Parents – 23
Councillors – 2
Facilitators – 4
Lead Officer:
Matthew Moss
Comments on Viable / Not Viable Options
(See Pg 6 onwards in “Options” Leaflet)
Primary Option
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If you were to close Bressay, would you increase the teacher numbers to reflect
the bigger pupil rolls? If Bell’s Brae were to get more pupils (from Bressay
particularly) or any other school, then you should increase staff. Staffing should
reflect the roll of the school.
Closing Bressay is a good move – can see huge advantages i.e. quality of
teaching. Also mentioned only one boy in the class so missed out on interaction –
going to Lerwick school will be good preparation for going to Anderson High
School.
If there was a fixed link, no reason to keep Bressay open (all feel this way). Even
with a ferry it would still be the same feeling. With fixed link, no difference to drive
as, for example, Quarff bairns who travel to Cunningsburgh.
No childcare and out-of-school clubs in Bressay. Also bigger choice of options in a
school of Bell’s Brae size compared to a school of Bressay size. Long periods
without music or PE (can tell from the Music Festival how many entries/interest
from schools – so specialist teachers are really important to the bairns all round
development).
What is the cost per pupil in Fetlar (is there a difference in cost when the pupil
went to Baltasound)?
Bressay wouldn’t be the first choice to close the school, particularly for lower
primary, so maybe pupils stay to middle primary then the transition to Lerwick.
If you’re spending millions for a new school in Mid Yell, then you should close
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Cullivoe and Burravoe.
Close Uyeasound and pupils go to Baltasound.
Bairns leave at 8am and come home at 4pm from Quarff to Cunningsburgh and
there doesn’t seem to be any problems.
Savings could be used to improve school transport in the town, particularly Bell’s
Brae.
With potential savings and savings made by closing schools, there should be a
school bus to transport the bairns.
Composite classes are non-viable. The expectation when you’re living in the town
is not to have composite classes in Bell’s Brae.
If schools were to close, the maintenance saved on buildings would be a huge
saving.
It is not a strong argument to keep a school open so that it can be used as a
community hall (it was noted Bressay would lose out because of this).
Our projected roll in 2012 is due to increase, so no composite classes.
Is there a maximum figure for intake of pupils at Bell’s Brae?
There should be funding to accommodate additional space for pupils and teachers
working on one-to-one.
Secondary Option
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Why doesn’t the secondary pupil in Skerries go to Whalsay? Or what about video
links? (Fair Isle, Foula pupils go to Anderson High School for their secondary).
Close Scalloway secondary school (no need for 2 high schools within 6 miles of
each other).
Secondary pupils from Unst and Yell travelling in the winter time is not good for the
pupils.
New Anderson High School should be built to fit the purpose (for all pupils coming
in at end of S3).
Hopefully this consultation will be listened to?
This consultation cannot go on – there is a time limit
Curriculum for Excellence may have an impact on Anderson High School rolls
There will be a shift toward more vocational courses in future
There will be a need for more finance
Classrooms are too small
Benefits of closing schools should be demonstrated to parents in rural areas
You can’t realistically ferry children from Unst to Yell
It would be difficult to put forward any cuts that don’t include closing Skerries
It’s a bad idea for children to leave home at 12
When a new school is built at Anderson High School this will provide a strong
attraction for pupils
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There is only one nursery in Yell – children travel there each day
Maybe we could make better use of specialist teachers
Individuals studying courses cannot access group activity
We are maintaining high cost schools yet asking pupils to pay for instrument
instruction
Lerwick provision will be unchanged largely, however if savings aren’t made all
pupils will be affected
People must make their voices/opinions heard
A little sense needs to be brought in
Documentation could have been simplified, this may have encouraged more
people to come to the meetings
The parent council email made me read the documents
How would composites be arranged in Bell’s Brae?
Is there any pupils that travel out of Lerwick to access education
It was felt that Scottish Government should contribute to cost when they refuse
school closures
Consultations cost a lot of money
Is the Mid Yell school big enough for Cullivoe and Burravoe schools?
It would be bad if a Bressay P1 couldn’t get home at night
There are several Bressay children attending school in Lerwick
Recruitment to small schools is difficult
If secondary departments go to S3 then recruitment is even more difficult
Has to be a consideration to bring Bressay bairns over to Lerwick
Broader mix of friends/social education for Bressay children – can be delivered
through Bell’s Brae
Positive views expressed that the 2 viable options are about maintaining 2 schools
in Lerwick – would be disappointed if this wasn’t the case
Are the 2 in Lerwick viable options only viable because the alternative is
unthinkable re: provision of one Lerwick primary school
Cost per pupil in Bell’s Brae and Sound show that these schools are efficient in
relative terms
From a secondary perspective – we are lucky that there are no changes for
secondary education – things will stay as is for S1-S6
Provision of education has to be central to this – rural sustainability has to be
secondary
View that citizenship aspect of Curriculum for Excellence is taking on aspects
which parents are responsible for
Would it be more useful to look at the primary/secondary full cost per pupil
calculations over a five year or more period
Do per pupil costs include transport costs? Transport costs will be significant
Where do cuts such as paying for music tuition fit within the overall Blueprint for
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Education? Are these additional to the savings
Tunnel/fixed link to Bressay – has the potential for a fixed link been factored in to
the debate over the future of Bressay
Consequences on Lerwick schools of other school closures throughout Shetland
on school roll numbers in Lerwick (parental choice element of putting bairns to
Lerwick)
If Bressay closed – could the Lerwick schools cope with the numbers that would
be transferred?
Makes sense for the cut off point for secondary education to be S1-3 under
Curriculum for Excellence
Looking at this in Shetland wide terms, not just from a Bell’s Brae perspective –
has to ensure quality education for all
Need to provide equal opportunities – sharing staff?
Staying the same in Lerwick – not too worried about smaller communities
Definition of equal education – can’t possibly have same facilities on isles as in
bigger schools
Live with the consequences of where you choose to live
Social aspect – Baltasound have limited interaction with peers
Possibility of home education
Those living in isolation want to have their cake and eat it too
Children become much more social after moving to big school
What about those leaving at 16? It’s the worst year possible to change school
More vocational courses would be good
Don’t know school if moving at S3 – teacher don’t know pupils, difficult subject
decisions, resistance of pupils
Group S1 and S2 together – better time to move at end of S2, giving them a
change to settle down before they need to choose subjects, less apprehension
Academia given high status, vocational lower, which needs to change. Would
more stay on if there were more vocational courses?
A lot of pressure added by moving and making decisions in S4
Not good for one big Lerwick school, classes are very big already
Bell’s Brae used to have 600 pupils – was that a bad thing?
Community identity leading to outrage over school closures
More pupils means less special facilities
Great standard of resources in Shetland, shows progression of education over
time
Optimum to have 300-400 children in primary schools
No childcare in Bressay, so parents take children to nursery in Lerwick
Very difficult for children from Bressay going to Anderson High as is such a
massive change
Small schools drain resources from larger ones – not fair to take away from Bell’s
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Brae for rural schools
Can’t parents see benefit of having more peers, and not mixing ages?
Accounting for all factors, and emotions, these are impossible decisions
Composite classes – not great – difficult for discipline (though does offer peer
support)
If they are so good, why isn’t everyone doing it?
South Mainland is a great example of a success story, which wasn’t followed up in
the rest of Shetland
Fear of change
Staff is real cost: in Orkney use video conferencing
Boarding can be good – not necessarily best to travel from home
Bullying on transport to school because of lack of supervision
Logic of one school for Unst and one for Yell – pupils already travel for nursery
Is ASN provision as good in small schools?
No desire for one Lerwick school, but if there was, to be built at Anderson High
School Knab site. Wouldn’t like it next door to secondary – bullying
Too many transitions – avoid by going straight to Anderson High School. 2 or 3
pupils going, and all will follow
Traffic problems around town schools are nightmare
Pupils getting stuck in town from isles is not good, but hostel is a generally positive
experience
More sympathy with primaries closing than junior high schools – secondary pupils
can cope
Obscenity of junior high school pupil to teacher compared to Anderson High
School
Skerries is ridiculous – got to have facilities but that’s excessive
Very ambitions plans, impossible to get through council
School sizes not so bad – but class sizes for debate, teamwork etc
Strange to have joint heads and better to have non-teaching head
Disruption of teaching heads, need more clerical staff to delegate – works better in
amalgamated schools
Other options that should be considered
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The layout of both Lerwick schools – there isn’t enough space – the ASN area is
not satisfactory, maintenance costs are high and parking around the school is
dangerous - need to consider the buildings.
Children going to Partner Providers – there isn’t a problem, seem to fit in well
when they go to P1.
Something has got to give – our pupils will miss out with the lack of space.
If you have quality staff, you’re going to use them in the schools
(primary/secondary).
Look at the success of this school, if we lose what we have to maintain other
schools it would not be fair (i.e. going to composite classes).
What is the cost of this Blueprint consultation and when will we see results? As
well, what was the cost of the other two Best Value consultations?
Do not pitch one community against the other. Small schools closure all at one
time (e.g. Burravoe, Cullivoe, Uyeasound, Skerries secondary department).
Pupils in peerie schools seem to get more school excursions (do bigger classes
sizes stop teachers because it’s difficult to manage larger numbers of pupils when
going on excusions?)
If there were less schools, then specialist teachers would not need to travel as
much, thereby saving money and will have more time to teach more pupils.
All P1-P3 at Bell’s Brae and all P4-P7 at Sound to avoid composite classes
Scalloway is completely unviable. Remove junior high school and make a super
primary. Central Mainland has acceptable travel distances.
Computers on standby overnight – switch them off and how much could be saved?
Cuts in council jobs, but realise necessity of care, education etc
Closed schools turned into care homes
Hostel at Brae, shut junior high schools apart from an isles one i.e. Yell
New Anderson High School could comfortably include Scalloway and Sandwick
Any other relevant matter you wish to be considered
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Whatever happens – have to take into consideration transport and infrastructure
(the state of roads and the building).
Councillors should make a decision, no more consultations – some closures are
inevitable. They have to make decisions on a sensible budgetary level and not on
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a personal basis.
Should have a long term plan for Anderson High School, make sure the
infrastructure is right but make the decision now.
Infrastructure – invest in tunnels.
In 2011/2012 Bell’s Brae rolls (projected) are going to increase, therefore there
should be 14 permanent mainstream teachers in place.
If we aren’t prepared to support our most rural communities in Shetland, there is a
danger that the Scottish Government will not support us
What about centralised costs of education – are these included in the cost per
pupil costs – and also what about recharges?
Front line gets hammered, sad that this is the case
Would be interested to see a comparative table of staffing costs/teachers set
against costs of central Education support costs e.g. Hayfield
Parents do not necessarily see what impact central staff have on the delivery of
education in their children’s school
Weakness of this is that we are only being asked to look at one aspect of this
Would rather see schools close than see education diluted
View that if there is no decisions made on this that will impact on this school
There are other budgets across the Council which should be cut, as opposed to
seeing Education facing cuts year on year
Why are our bairns suffering for the inappropriate use of other Council funds –
want to see the Education budget increased
Happy to pay for the peaks in the cost per pupil graph for education in rural areas,
so long as the education is and continues to be sustained as quality and adequate
What about the impact of the S4s from other junior highs coming into Lerwick – is
there room for them at the Anderson High School?
Is there room for more pupils? Would there and could there be bigger classes?
Nobody wants to see any school close, but we want to see the quality of education
enjoyed at Bell’s Brae continue
Consequences of statistics that the Scottish Government see – how these can
influence money received from Government
Dangerous to make comparisons with other areas who have a different starting
point
Examples in the past, consolidation of new schools, and more recently the Quarff
school – shown that these merges and consolidations can work
Don’t bother **** with Mareel/money back from Smyril
Would be easier to swallow if these cuts to education were not coming against a
backdrop of Council mis-spending
Are there different ways of making these savings without knitting education
Knitting is not a priority – cut this
What about business sponsorship opportunities to pay for some of the non-core
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aspects of education
Should bigger schools have to be facing issues such as composite classes when
there are some other schools sitting with single figures
Level of expectation has been built up
Should be looking at consolidation of schools on the mainland where the quality of
education is not affected
Some of the secondary pupils would be perfectly able to move to the Anderson
High School and stay in hostel accommodation
General view that it is understandable that the primary schools on islands, where
only alternative would be to ferry bairns out, should be left alone
Is there still a plan for the Parent Council to meet and discuss this, and then put
forward a view from the Parent Council?
Councillors are going to fight their corner for local schools – political suicide
More people in Lerwick than rural areas to vote on it
What happens if council don’t make decisions?
Frightening that there’s no money
Music tuition fees – indication of what’s to come? Need to make cuts somewhere
Council makes small cuts quite happily but never have guts to take big decisions –
doesn’t help
People travel large distances south to get children into best schools
Will new Anderson High School ever happen?
How would you reduce staff costs? Couldn’t be immediate?
Voluntary/compulsory redundancies
What is going to go wrong? Been in a cycle of consultation for years
Farce if councillors can’t act independently – teaming up and blocking votes
Instead of finding different uses, knock buildings down
Blank canvas – where would main schools be built?
Never any focus on positives of closing, i.e. team sports – need to look at benefits