Glasgow Council "has committed to refurbishing or rebuilding all of its primary and nursery schools" 

"Glasgow City Council said the revamp was necessary to help cope with an expected population growth among under-12s over the next 10 years"

Click on the above link to read this new story from the BBC today. 

East Dunbartonshire have already amended their projected school rolls for 2020 from an initial figure of 7,221 to a figure of 8,209.  Is it feasible that Glasgow City Council is expecting a rise in school rolls but that population rise will stop suddenly at Anniesland? We need to have confidence in the figures before any changes to our schools are planned. 

A small point, in St Joseph's Primary Milngavie the roll is predicted to remain static not fall. As many other schools have school rolls which are also predicted to stay the same, this make the accuracy of school capacity calculations even more important. I believe that any room that was previously used as a classroom is included in the capacity calculations. This does not take into account that schools have converted rooms for use as libraries, active learning spaces and as IT areas. All of these are considered important in a modern school and newly built schools will be constructed with additional spaces for these purposes. These same spaces which would be considered as contributing to a schools under-capacity in an older building. 

The Primary School Estate Consultation process started with a questionnaire to selected households followed by workshops. A company IBP was commissioned to carry out these initial consultations. The questionnaire was sent to randomly selected households and contained questions about expectations for education in East Dunbartonshire in a broad sense (IBP Survey). There were two workshops for each area of East Dunbartonshire - one for professionals (teachers, support staff etc) and one for other stakeholders (Parent Council Chairs, representatives of the local communities etc). In these workshops, participants were asked to make suggestions for the school estate and 'think outside the box'. There was no financial or practical analysis (EDC Primary School Estate Workshop Summary).

From this the Council published a table of options of which there were over a hundred for the whole of East Dunbartonshire and at least 15 for the Milngavie area alone (Milngavie Area Proposals and Bearsden Area Options). 

The impression was given that the questionnaire would contain various different options for each area for the public to consider.

Within a couple of weeks, this list of suggestions was drastically reduced to the options that are now to be contained in the questionnaire issued in January.  There was no opportunity for those affected by the proposed changes to discuss the questionnaire and give opinions before its release. Reasons have been given for  the options rejected as being 'non-viable' but no quantified financial analysis has been published (Agenda for the Council Meeting December 10th).    

Agenda for Council Meeting December 10th
IBP Report
EDC Primary School Estate Workshop Summary
Milngavie Area Proposals
Bearsden Area Option

So what's happening to schools in Milngavie?

East Dunbartonshire Council has recently voted to go ahead with a public consultation on the future of the primary and nursery estate across the council area. This consultation will have an impact on many parents and families in Milngavie, not simply on those associated with St Joseph’s Primary.

Since August, members of the parent councils have been involved in the development and structure of this consultation. However the proposals for Milngavie include the merger of St Joseph’s Primary, Milngavie and St Andrew’s Primary, Bearsden on the Bearsden site as well as two potential merger options involving Milngavie Primary and Clober Primary and the construction of a new school to be built on the Clober site.

At this point this does not mean schools will close, nor that any final decisions have been made.

However in the consultation, which takes the form of a short questionnaire, the council are now asking the general public to indicate which proposals have the most support and our school is very much in the middle of those plans. To save our school and the future of catholic education in Milngavie our school will need not just the support of the families at the school but importantly also the support of our wider parish, friends and the wider Milngavie community. 

The structure of the questionnaire separates questions about changes to schools in Milngavie. The proposals for Milngavie Primary, Clober Primary and Baldernock schools are described in a different section to the proposal for St Joseph's. This lack of clarity means many local parents may not link the proposals for all the schools in Milngavie together, and therefore may miss the bigger picture.

It is vital all parents and those interested in local provision of statutory services fill in the survey. Council provision of local faith schools is a statutory obligation. To remove this facility from the community of Milngavie by the suggestion that a merger with a school in Bearsden fulfils this remit for the Milngavie community is akin to closing our library and saying that the one in Bearsden would serve our community just as well. The long term impact of combining our separate communities in this way could see all manner of council services merged across distinct community borders.

Now is not the time to panic but what is clear is that the council is set to make changes to the structure and location of primary schools in Milngavie and across the wider East Dunbartonshire area. Retaining the status quo is not an option. The short questionnaire will sent to a limited number of households in the New Year but will also be available to complete online from January 8, 2013 until the beginning of February.

There will be a meeting for parents from St Joseph’s at the school in early January to discuss our approach to this further. It is vital that a representative from every family attends this meeting.  We have also created a Face book page search for Friends of St Joseph’s so you can keep in touch with developments.

On Thursday 6th of December, the St Joseph's School Choir walked down to St Paul's Church to perform at their Christmas Tree Festival. It was fantastic! Being able to be part of the wider community in Milngavie is essential for the children, it gives them a sense of belonging and teaches them the importance of supporting their local community.

If  in the future pupils are bussed to Bearsden, the whole community will lose out not just the children.