Renfrewshire Council is hurtling towards another schools crisis, church leaders have warned, amidst soaring pupil numbers at Trinity High.
Paisley Diocese says leadership at the local authority is “failing to grasp the urgency” of the situation facing the Renfrew school which could see capacity breached by 200 to 300 pupils in the next 10 years.
A report, produced by independent statistician firm Edge Analytics, shows projected pupil roles for the Glebe Street campus could reach 1,204 by 2033/34; the capacity is 1,032.
But education chiefs have this week admitted an additional 120 children will be redirected to Trinity High in order to curb numbers at Park Mains – a measure needed as a result of the Dargavel Primary scandal.
It means all three Catholic schools in Renfrewshire will have a school roll that far exceeds available spaces; St Andrew’s Academy is already operating at 240 above capacity, while St Benedict’s High School in Linwood will also hit its prescribed limit by 2027.
The Diocese of Paisley said “there was a lack of urgency with decision-making” at Renfrewshire Council.
A spokesperson said: “The Diocese of Paisley continues to engage in a constructive dialogue with Renfrewshire Council about its legal duty to provide denominational schools across the authority.
“The issue of capacity is regularly raised at meetings of the children’s services board by church representatives. Together, with concerns that St Andrew’s Academy is significantly over capacity and has been for some years.
“Separately, there is growing concern that Trinity High School, which is also projected to go over capacity soon, occupies a building which was built half-a-century ago on a site where it cannot expand and is in urgent need of relocation.
“Additionally, given the rapidly-growing number of children of school age in Dargavel, we would expect that this would justify the provision of a denominational primary school in the near future.”
He added: “The diocese welcomes the council’s plan to address these concerns now but remains concerned at a lack of urgency in the decision-making process.
“As the lead time for the construction or extension of school buildings can be significant and since projected rolls of all schools concerned are set to grow, very early action is required to ensure that the council continues to meet the needs of the Catholic parents and pupils of Renfrewshire.”
The Paisley Daily Express revealed last month how school roll figures produced by Edge Analytics predicted the number of children requesting a place at Park Mains High School would leap to 2,169 by 2033.
Renfrewshire Council, however, said it would cap pupils numbers at 2,000 – the number catered to as part of its planned £34 million extension to the campus.
It means many children from St Anne’s and St Bosco’s primaries – whose parents traditionally request they attend the local non-denominational school instead of travelling to Renfrew – will no longer be accommodated.
A council spokesperson said its recently agreed learning estate strategy would guide future investment decisions across schools, taking account of condition and capacity.
He said: “The 10-year roll projections for all Renfrewshire schools published last month will be key to those decisions, as they give a clear data-based picture of where there might be capacity pressure in the future, and allow us to put plans in place now to deal with that.
“The projections for Trinity High suggest the school could go slightly over capacity in 2026 and continue to increase slowly after that. The school will be able to manage this over the short-term by flexible timetabling and use of available space.
“We can also apply our existing admissions policy to manage the number of requests accepted from outwith the area, and from pupils who did not attend associated primaries. Detailed planning is already underway on longer-term solutions.”
The council said any knock-on effect from Park Mains to Trinity High would not be evident until the 2030s, suggesting it has “plenty of time to put solutions in place”.
The spokesman also argued that St Andrew’s Academy was operating well through the use of flexible timetabling despite its high numbers while St Benedict’s would only hit capacity for a few years before numbers were expected to drop again.
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