Children and Families Property Review

This page gives details of proposals to get best value by reorganising Edinburgh's Children and Families properties.

Possible closure for four primary schools

16 June 2009

Education, Children and Families Committee

Members agreed that consultation should start in August 2009 on the possible closure in July 2010 of Fort Primary, Burdiehouse Primary, Royston Primary and Drumbrae Primary.

Committee did ask for some additions to the original report and these can be seen below.

Important note:

  • No decision to close any of the schools has been made.
  • The schools will be open for the whole of the 2009/10 school year.
  • Early years and community facilities would still run in the Fort building even if the primary school were to be closed.

What happens next?

Officers will prepare full consultation papers over the summer. These will be published when when the consultation starts in late August. You’ll be able to find details on this page then. We'll include key meeting dates and tell you how to put your views and questions forward.

Early design work starting

If the closures were to go ahead work would need to be done for nurseries at Clermiston Primary, Gracemount Primary and Granton Primary. Committee members took the view that design and planning work should start now so that any new facilities are ready in time if they are needed. This doesn't mean that any closure decisions have been taken: they haven’t.

Plans will be withdrawn and work stopped immediately if it becomes clear that the work is not needed because the closure proposal will not go ahead.

Additional requests from the Committee on 16 June

The Committee agreed the following amendment to recommendation 7.1 (iii):

Delegate authority to the Director to develop detailed consultation papers on the basis of the options outlined in this report with the papers:

• providing additional information, if possible, in relation to the GRO projections relating to actual numbers to date (compared with the previous projections) and the expected estate capacity in future years;
• providing further information regarding the savings expected from teaching and non-teaching staff;
• including information on any potential impact in receiving schools in class-room and resource space for activities such as ICT, library and support for learning; and
• being issued to parents before any release of information to the press.

Committee agreed the following additional recommendations:

(ix) Agree the immediate commencement of the design stage for the new nursery provision as identified in the report

(x) Information regarding the condition of the receiving schools and any investment implications to be provided to Council in an accompanying report.

9 June 2009

The latest council figures on Edinburgh's school population show that there are 8,600 empty places in the city's primaries. This means the council is forced to spend scarce funds on running and maintaining schools that are well below capacity.

A report to the Council's Education, Children & Families Committee on 16th June recommends that a consultation process should start in August over proposals to close Burdiehouse, Drumbrae, Fort and Royston Primary Schools. The report can be viewed here (PDF) or via Council Papers Online (choose Committee Search then select the Education, Children and Families committee meeting, specifying the date of 16 June 2009).

Each of these schools is less than half full, running at between 33-41% occupancy. Closing them would be a step towards matching the number of school places to the number of children in Edinburgh's schools as closely as possible. Read more in the press release from 9th June 09.

Stockbridge Primary School catchment review

The Council recently held a public consultation on proposals to more than double the size of the Stockbridge catchment by making a corresponding reduction to the Flora Stevenson catchment area.

Previous Primary School Estate Review

Decision on school closures at Council Meeting on 20 November

At the Council meeting on 20 November the following decisions were taken:

  • Bonnington Primary School will close at Christmas with pupils transferring to Leith Primary School in January 2009
  • Lismore Primary School will close at Christmas with pupils transferring to Brunstane Primary School in January 2009
  • Westburn Primary School will close in July 2009 with pupils transferring to Canal View, Murrayburn and Sighthill Primary Schools for the start of the new school term in August 2009

Background

School Estate Review/Investment in Schools

The Council has a duty to continually review its buildings' estate and make sure it has the right number of school places in the right locations of the City. As the population across the City naturally changes and shifts location over the years, the Council needs to review the number of places available for each local area. To ensure that the Council can continue to invest in school buildings, it must make sure that its estate operates as efficiently as possible.

Overall, the City has experienced a 19% fall in its primary pupils numbers over the last decade, and there are now 9,500 spare places in the primary school estate. The Government's grant for education is linked to the number of pupils in schools, and accordingly the City's share of national funding has fallen in real terms. A supporting paper 'Investing in Schools' provides more detailed information on the investment in schools in Edinburgh and more detailed information on school capacities and school roll predictions.

The Cross Party Forum

Forum members comprised representatives from each political party and parental, teaching and religious representatives. The Forum has been meeting since the start of 2008.

The Forum has agreed a set of broad criteria to be used in the evaluation of the school estate. The criteria fall under three main headings: educational outcomes, parental choice, and value for money. It was also agreed that use of the criteria would be a guide and that the Forum would take account of a fourth criterion comprising wider qualitative information when detailed proposals are being discussed.

The primary school estate was assessed against these criteria and the Forum subsequently considered detailed information for selected schools. Following this detailed assessment the Forum then recommended to the Council's Education Committee that it consider options for the closure of three schools - Bonnington, Lismore and Westburn Primary Schools.

Council approval was given on the 18th June to undertake a public consultation process on these proposals in Autumn 2008. To view the report go to Council Papers Online and use the Committee Search button, entering the date and title of the meeting (18th June 2008, the Education, Children and Families Committee).

Reports

Following the consultations, a report went to the Council Meeting on 20 November recommending the closure of Bonnington, Lismore and Westburn Primary Schools.

The reports follow a decrease in the primary sector which has dropped by 6,000 pupils in the last ten years. There are currently 9,500 spare primary school places in Edinburgh. The situation is compounded by the fact that the spare capacity is concentrated in specific areas of the city. Central government funding is linked to pupil numbers which means a reduced sum to be shared by schools across the city.

These documents can also be found via Council Papers Online. Use the Committee Search button and enter the date and title of the meeting (20th November 2008, City of Edinburgh Council).

Recommendations

It was recommended that pupils from Lismore Primary transfer to Brunstane Primary and pupils from Bonnington Primary transfer to Leith Primary for the start of the new term in January 2009. The other recommendation were that Westburn Primary School closes at the end of the school year in June 2009 with pupils transferring to either Murrayburn, Sighthill or Canal View Primary Schools, based on where they live in the current school catchment area.

Reasons for recommending closure of Bonnington Primary school
  • The school roll has now fallen from 79 pupils in 2007 to 33 this term
  • There are 1000 spare places in the Leith area
  • A low percentage of the catchment attend Bonnington Primary
  • All pupils going to Leith will provide an opportunity for all the P7 pupils to remain together
  • The catchment proposals put forward will reflect current patterns of parental choice
  • Nursery provision for the current pupils will be made locally
 Reasons for recommending closure of Lismore Primary school
  • The school roll has now fallen from 85 pupils in 2007 to 41 this term
  • There are insufficient pupils in the catchment area to make the school viable
  • HMIe have expressed concerns about educational provision and we need to address this
  • Educational attainment is higher at Brunstane Primary School
  • There is a safe route to Brunstane Primary for Lismore pupils
  • This option means the secondary school area will remain unchanged, with pupils going to Portobello High School
Reasons for recommending closure of Westburn Primary school
  • There are not enough primary aged pupils in the Wester Hailes cluster to justify four primary schools
  • There are currently 1500 school places in the Wester Hailes area and only 700 pupils
  • Westburn Primary has the lowest roll in the cluster (135 pupils)
  • Only 36% of pupils in the catchment area attend Westburn
  • There are proposed improvements to the condition of two of the receiving schools – Sighthill and Murrayburn.
St Thomas of Aquins school

Contacts
Name: Children and Families
Address: Waverley Court, Level 1/2, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh EH8 8BG
Tel: 0131 469 3312

Did you know ?
Edinburgh has experienced a 19% fall in its primary pupils numbers over the last decade.