The future of Strone of Cally primary school will now be subject to public consultation after a report recommending closure was approved.
Following an extensive “detailed options appraisal”, members of Perth and Kinross Council’s lifelong learning committee were advised that shutting the remote school for good was the best way forward.
However, convener Liz Grant stressed they were not yet making any decisions and would now enter discussions with residents and other interested parties.
Following the public consultation, which is due to take place within the next few weeks, it is likely the school building will be declared “surplus to requirements” and offered for sale on the open market.
The entire process is expected to reach a conclusion by August 2012, when the catchment area for Kirkmichael will be extended to include the region previously encompassed by Strone of Cally.
Councillor Caroline Shiers issued an appeal to people in her ward to be a part of this, saying, “I want to stress that it is the whole of the community who have the opportunity to be involved in this process and I would urge them to participate.”
One of the alternative options that had been considered in the appraisal was to close a nearby school and transfer pupils to Strone of Cally. This was not seen as viable as the total number of children within the combined catchment area is 53 and Strone of Cally only has a capacity for 50 compared to 72 at Kirkmichael.Pupil transfer under wayTransporting the larger school’s 39 pupils would also have proven to be a much more difficult task than moving the three youngsters living near the smaller venue. A number of children within the catchment area have already been enrolled at Kirkmichael and staff redeployed.
Executive director of education and children’s services John Fyffe said, “Currently only a small number of Strone of Cally parents wish to have their child attend the local school. The majority of local parents have already demonstrated their desire to have their children educated within neighbouring catchment schools through successful placing requests.
“Future pupil projections have been considered and Kirkmichael Primary School can accommodate all projected and potential pupils from the combined catchment areas.”
The “detailed options appraisal” also looked at the implications of continuing to mothball Strone of Cally, but this would cost thousands of pounds a year in maintenance costs when annual savings of £86,342 could be made from permanent closure.
Councillor Barbara Vaughan also pointed out that over £32,000 had already been spent on replacing the school’s emergency lighting and fire alarm system less than a year before it was mothballed and called for closer scrutiny.
She said, “If a similar event came forward, I was hoping that we as a committee could decide if there was a future in that school. We don’t want to go spending a large amount of money on a school that will close in the near future.”