A small village primary school with 15 pupils will close for good at the end of June, Falkirk councillors agreed today, despite strong opposition from parents.
Members of Falkirk Council’ s executive agreed today (Thursday) that Blackness Primary School will close and catchment pupils will transfer to Grange Primary in Bo’ness, three miles away.
SNP education spokesperson Councillor Iain Sinclair said it had been a challenging decision but overall he was convinced “it is the right decision for everyone involved”.
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He said: “Whilst the quality of education at Blackness is equal to that in other places, I fully believe that the experiences and opportunities which will be available to children by moving to Grange in Bo’ness will be enhanced.
“That’s not to say there are not opportunities currently, but learning beside a significantly increased number of peer age and stage pupils represents an improvement from current experiences.”
Parent Jann Fairley, who has campaigned to keep the school open, addressed councillors, hoping to persuade them of the vital role the school plays in keeping the community together, through the children taking part in events such as beach cleans and visits to older residents with soup packs.
“The school is the community – without the school, it’s gone. There’s nothing for the villagers to do, everything is closed.”
Ms Fairley also criticised the way that the consultation had been handled, saying it had caused “extreme anxiety” among children and parents.
She said that over several years, families looking to enroll pupils at the school had been told it was closing and suggested this was “a deliberate act to bring our school roll down over a number of years”.
Director of Jon Reid firmly denied this had been the case and said families making placement requests would always be advised to enroll at their local school too as placement requests were not guaranteed.
The meeting began with an apology from Mr Reid who said that Bo’ness Community Council had wrongly been recorded as being in favour of the closure, when in fact they were neutral.
A detailed report was presented to members and councillors had many questions for the director and the head of primary education.
The report was full of praise for the small primary school, where pupils from P1-5 are taught in a single class.
But Education Services considered there would be several benefits to pupils attending Grange Primary where they would get more opportunities to work with peers.
Being in a larger school would also make the transition to high school less challenging.
Their assessment was backed by Education Scotland.
Mr Reid said he was confident Grange Primary could accommodate the extra numbers as historically many Bo’ness pupils do not attend their local primary school.
If numbers do get too high, developer contributions from local house building would be available to make changes.
According to the report, the permanent closure of Blackness Primary School would result in a net annual saving to the council of £203,460 based on 2023/24 costs.
Councillor Sinclair added: “That which we heard this morning, in terms of beach cleans, visits, events and, importantly, community should absolutely continue with more pupils being able to engage who are currently placed at Grange, meaning that the community will benefit from that connection between Blackness and the wider Bo’ness communities.”
The Labour group leader, Councillor Anne Hannah, said that she had “agonised” over the decision but ultimately was “not convinced there are educational or financial benefits to keeping the school open”.
The Conservative group and Independent councillors voted against the closure.
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