Questions and Motion in the Scottish Parliament
Friends of Brora School news release 28 May 2008
Photograph
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Text of letter from Peter Peacock MSP to Education Convener of Highland Council
4 July 2008
Councillor Deirdre Mackay has expressed herself as "delighted" that Highland Council have decided to look again at the staffing quota before the new school term begins in August at Brora Primary School where one teaching post was to be cut.
At a meeting of the council last week, Councillor Mackay, through a motion, attempted to save the post , telling councillors that there were special circumstances affecting the school.
She said that the school roll was projected to oscillate in the region just above and just below the cut-off criterion in the next five years, and that new housing developments at Brora would mean a rising village population.
She withdrew her motion on the assurance that the issue would be examined once more before August.
Councillor Mackay said,
"I understand there has to be a cut-off point but I don't agree with a one-size-fits-all arrangement.
"There are key local circumstances that should be taken into consideration in order that sound decisions can be made."
Brora Parents rally to keep teacher
Anxious parents of Brora Primary School pledged to continue fighting to keep their teacher at a packed meeting held over the weekend.
The Friends of Brora Primary have already collected over 200 signatures following a weekend of action to stop Highland Council cutting a teacher and capping the school.
North Labour MSP and former education Minister Peter Peacock addressed the meeting of parents in Brora on Saturday, together with local Labour Councillor Deirdre Mackay and senior Highland Labour Councillor Jimmy Gray, as the parents geared up their efforts to take on the SNP/Independent administration at Highland Council over their decision to axe a teacher at the school in August and cap the school roll.
Peter Peacock said:
“It is highly significant that on a glorious Saturday afternoon so many parents came to a meeting to discuss the future of their school and the current twin threats it faces of the loss of a teacher and the capping of the school roll which would cause new pupils arriving in Brora to go to a neighbouring school.
“The parents were very anxious, but equally determined to fight their corner and not allow their school to lose out.
“We spent time discussing their concerns and discussing what could be done.”
Peter Peacock revealed that parents and teachers had told him of people planning to come to the village who had children and which would put the school roll back up, but also of new houses being built and of new jobs coming to the area which also had the potential to boost the school roll.
Peter Peacock added:
“The Council frequently have to deal with fluctuating school rolls and they can add and take teachers away accordingly. Every generation of Councillors has to deal with these issues and they are never easy to deal with.
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I have advised the parents they have a real fight on their hands.“However, the Council also has discretion to use flexibility as to when it brings in changes if there is a reasonable chance the roll may rise again.
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I will be urging the Council to exercise that discretion, as they have done many times in the past.“My fear is that the Council are choosing not to use discretion because of the self imposed budget cuts they are making after doing a deal with the government to freeze council tax.
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Whereas they may have been able to carry a number of extra teachers for exactly this kind of situation, they are now having to get rid of those teachers to meet their own, self imposed, budget decisions."
It is the pupils and parents in Brora who are suffering and, potentially the whole village, with the capping of the school roll.“The capping of the school roll is very worrying.
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This seems like a new policy the Council is adopting and the only reason I can see for it is that the Council don’t want to have to hire more teachers, so they will keep the roll artificially low by sending new children to the village to another village for schooling."
If this is the case it is an extremely worrying development with massive implications for other areas and schools across the Highlands. "Peter Peacock will be writing to the Council over the issue on behalf of parents who have asked for his support and advice.
Here are questions (and answers) tabled in the Scottish Parliament by Peter Peacock on the plans by Highland Council to cut a teacher from Brora Primary School
12 June 2008
Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it believes that Highland Council is right to propose to raise class sizes at Brora Primary School.
Ms Maureen Watt : Class organisation is a matter for individual local authorities in light of local circumstances.
Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) : To ask the Scottish Executive whether the proposal to raise class sizes at Brora Primary School is at odds with the policy of reducing class sizes.
Ms Maureen Watt : The class organisation of particular schools is a matter for individual local circumstances. We have signed a concordat with local government which will see year on year progress towards reducing class sizes in primary 1 to primary 3 to a maximum of 18. The concordat recognises that the pace of implementation will vary across authorities depending on local circumstances and needs.
Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the proposal to raise class sizes at Brora Primary School is at odds with the outcome agreement between the Scottish Government and Highland Council.
Ms Maureen Watt : No. Single outcome agreements do not specify the class structure to be employed in individual schools.
Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) : To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities have the right to cap the roll of a primary school and require pupils who would otherwise attend that school to attend another school when the purpose of such a capping measure is solely to prevent them from having to employ another teacher.
Ms Maureen Watt : School admission arrangements, including issues of school capacity and teacher employment, are matters for local authorities to determine in light of local circumstances.
Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) : To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities are required to formally consult on any proposals which affect a school catchment area, as it may apply to any number of pupils resident within a given catchment area.
Ms Maureen Watt : The circumstances in which local authorities are statutorily required to consult parents and other relevant parties on certain changes in educational matters are set out in the Education (Publication and Consultation Etc)(Scotland) Regulations 1981. These include any proposal to vary a school’s delineated area, more commonly known as a catchment area.
Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) : To ask the Scottish Executive whether it believes that parents should be consulted by local authorities on any proposals to cap the rolls of their schools.
Ms Maureen Watt : The circumstances in which local authorities are statutorily required to consult parents and other relevant parties on certain changes in educational matters are set out in the Education (Publication and Consultation Etc)(Scotland) Regulations 1981. These do not include proposals to cap the roll of schools. The Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 places authorities under a duty to respond to and engage with a school’s Parent Council on matters about which the Parent Council expresses concern.
Peter Peacock has tabled the following motion in the Scottish Parliament
Motion tabled in the Scottish Parliament
Parliament notes the concern of parents at Brora Primary School over proposals to reduce the number of teachers at the school and as a result raise class sizes; calls upon Highland Council to exercise its discretion to retain the current number of teachers and prevent disruption to the school by recognising development currently taking in Brora may positively affect pupil numbers over coming months; calls upon the Scottish Government to clarify whether increasing class sizes in Brora is consistent with its policy to reduce class sizes, its concordat with local government and its outcome agreement with Highland Council.
Parents are extremely unhappy about this reduction for a number of reasons:
· The school will lose a very capable, enthusiastic and popular teacher who has inspired huge numbers of pupils who have passed through her care.
· The proposed reduction in staff to four will result in four composite classes of between 23 and 24 pupils in each class, only marginally below the Scottish Government’s recommended maximum for a composite class. This size of composite class puts greater pressure on both teaching staff and pupils and makes it more difficult for the teachers to provide individual attention.
· The roll is only slightly below the cut-off point and Brora is a popular village with a changing population and a new development of housing just approaching completion. It is highly likely that the school roll will increase in the coming school year, as it has in previous years, resulting in Highland Council having to provide additional teaching cover. The school would then have to re-shuffle the classes, resulting in a huge amount of disturbance to the children’s education. Classes had to be reshuffled during the current year and the pupils and teachers involved found it highly disruptive. We also understand that if new pupils were to ask to join the four class school after October 2008, then the Education, Culture and Sport department would ask the school to say that it was full and that the pupils would be asked to enrol in one of the other primary schools in the area.
· The school has a new head teacher from the beginning of June and is likely to have a new school secretary (on a reduced number of hours) after the summer holidays. The new head will have a teaching commitment after the summer holidays. The change in class and teacher numbers will make the situation very difficult for the new head and we think that she should be given the best chance to settle in to the running of our school by ensuring that she has the same number of teachers in the new school year as when she was appointed.
The parents would like the school and its pupils to be given a bit of lee-way in the decision to reduce the numbers of teachers, particularly given the above factors, many of which are peculiar to Brora Primary School. The parent council, with the assistance of local councillor Deidre Mackay, is trying to arrange an urgent meeting with Graham Nicols of the Education, Culture and Sport department of Highland Council to discuss Brora Primary School’s special circumstances.
The parent council is also urging parents, relatives and friends of Brora Primary School to write to express their concerns to members of the Education, Culture and Sport department of Highland Council, to their local councillors and MSPs. In addition a petition is being raised in the village. Parents will be in the Brora Co-op on Saturday 31 May between 0900 and 1200 with a copy of the petition and will be urging members of the local community to sign the petition and show their support for Brora Primary School in their attempt to get this controversial decision over-turned.
For information: Friends of Brora School is the parent council of Brora Primary School and is registered in Scotland as charity number SC013711. Our logo has been altered to represent the proposed reduction in the number of staff and classes at our school.
Peter Peacock has been challenging the Scottish Government over the contradiction between its claims for small class sizes and the reality for P1/2 pupils at Brora Primary School.
He said: "These answers show the local authority concordat and the local outcome agreement between Highland Council and the Scottish government are not worth the paper they are printed on.
"The fact that you can raise class sizes and still supposedly meet a government promise to reduce class sizes is bizarre.
"The CON-cordat is an exercise in double speak where yes means no and
less means more."
Dear Councillor Fernie
Brora Primary School
I was invited to attend a meeting of parents of children attending Brora Primary School on Saturday.
A large number of parents attended and expressed real concern over three issues:
First, their concern that the school was to lose a teacher at the end of this term as the school roll had dipped.
Second, that in arriving at that decision insufficient attention and weight has been given to current developments in the village by way of
O known families planning to move to the village with children
O the development of 18 new houses in the village which are likely to bring some more children, and
O the development of new employment opportunities in the village which will need incoming workers
Third, the concern the parents have that the school roll is apparently to be capped and its new level, so that any additional children coming to the village may have to travel to Helmsdale to get schooling.
I am familiar with the issues involved here, having encountered them many times before in different roles I have fulfilled and I explained that to the parents when I met them on Saturday.
I am therefore aware that the Council does of course have complete discretion in these matters and in how it operates its policy.
The Council has in the past exercised its discretion when it believes the current roll may be affected positively by population changes in the local community and I would urge you to do so in this instance.
The parents I met have advised me of their knowledge of planned family movements into the village which would have the effect of lifting the school roll again.
Further, with new housing developments in the village and the coming of new industrial developments with a need for incoming workers, the prospect is that in the short to medium term the roll may rise again.
The move to reduce the teacher numbers at the school will, of course, have the effect of raising class sizes and that would seem to be completely at odds with the Scottish government’s promise, which your Council has agreed to deliver through the Concordat with local Government on delivery of government priorities, and also at odds with the Council’s own Outcome Agreement with the Government.
In replying I would be grateful if you would advise what factors have been considered in arriving at the decision to remove the teacher and whether those factors include what is referred to above and what weight has been given to them.
I would also be grateful to know how many teachers above formula the Council is currently carrying to staff schools which have seen marginal reductions in their roll and which schools these are.
Further I would be grateful to know whether the Council has plans to reduce the historic number of teachers it has carried above formula for such circumstances in order to meet current Council budget targets.
I have also been very surprised to learn from parents of the apparent plan to cap the school roll at Brora when space exists in the school to accommodate a larger number of pupils.
This position appears to have been confirmed by comments in the local media by senior education officials on behalf of the Council and I would be grateful for confirmation of what the position on this is.
If indeed a decision has been taken to cap the roll, I would be grateful to know who took that decision; how long such decisions stand for under Council policy; how and when such decisions are reviewed and by whom; whether it would be normal to consult parents on such a proposal, prior to a decision; whether in fact formal consultation would be required under the statutes applying given the potential affect on some pupils in terms of catchment areas; how many other schools in Highland are similarly affected currently, or have been in the past, or you anticipate will be affected in the foreseeable future; and how the policy applies to siblings.
The implications of any policy of widespread roll capping in these circumstances are potentially extremely worrying and could have major implications on the prospects for particular schools and indeed whole communities.
The effect in Brora could be to require pupils to travel considerable distances to a neighbouring school with capacity to take them.
In addition, there would be a disincentive to move to a particular community if its roll was capped and a child could not be enrolled in their local school.
Such capping provisions as I have been aware of are for the purpose of keeping places available in local schools in the face of placing requests or where there may be no physical capacity for pupils in the short term, or perhaps for health and safety reasons.
The only purpose of what it appears may be happening in Brora would seem to be to ensure the roll cannot rise again and trigger another teacher, thus constraining spending.
I look forward to you being able to clarify this matter for everyone quickly and to consider my earlier request that the Council exercise discretion on the issues.
Best wishes.
Yours sincerely
PETER PEACOCK, MSP
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I am concerned at what Highland Council are proposing to do at Brora Primary School.
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