Furnace Primary School - Mothballing
Argyll and Bute Council · 12 December 2024
Back to Community Services Committee — 12 December 2024 and its agenda
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1 ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE EDUCATION 12 DECEMBER 2024 FURNACE PRIMARY SCHOOL – MOTHBALLING 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 The purpose of this report is to update the Community Services Committee on the current situation of Furnace Primary School. The report proposes a number of measures under which the Education Service can monitor the position of the School over the forthcoming year. 2.0 RECOMMENDATIONS 2.1 It is recommended that the Community Services Committee agree that: 2.1.1 Furnace Primary School is mothballed on a temporary basis, and that the building be retained for one year on a care and maintenance basis. 2.1.2 Officers will conduct a review of the School’s mothballing ahead of the Committee’s December 2025 meeting, at which members can decide on a continued period of mothballing; or request that officers commence a preliminary exercise to examine the future options for Furnace Primary School. 2.1.3 The community shall have pre-arranged access to the building to promote any community functions during the period of mothballing.
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2 ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE EDUCATION 12 DECEMBER 2024 FURNACE PRIMARY SCHOOL - MOTHBALLING 3.0 INTRODUCTION 3.1 Furnace Primary has been subject to a shared Headship arrangement with Inveraray Primary School since August 2022. The decision on a Shared Headship was informed by strong parental support for this approach following engagement that took place in March 2022, facilitated by the Education Service. 3.2 A Principal Teacher was recruited for Furnace Primary School to support the Shared Headship model from August 2022. In June 2023, the Service was unable to recruit a temporary Principal Teacher at Furnace Primary School when the current Principal Teacher commenced Maternity Leave. Due to challenges with staffing cover at Furnace Primary School, pupils had been attending Inveraray Primary School as part of an agreement with parents to ensure consistency of educational provision. Following further engagement with parents in the summer of 2023, the decision was made for the pupils at Furnace Primary School to temporarily attend Inveraray Primary School until such time that the Principal Teacher returned from Maternity Leave, and the arrangement could be reviewed. In April 2024, further engagement took place with parents. At this point, the School had three pupils enrolled, one of whom was progressing to Lochgilphead Joint Campus at the end of that school session. One parent of the remaining pupils expressed their desire that the Education Service proceed with recruiting a 0.4PT to allow their child to return to Furnace Primary School. The other parent felt strongly that a return to Furnace Primary School was not in the best interests of their child and was clear that their child had expressed their desire to remain at Inveraray Primary School. 3.3 In June 2024, further engagement included a new family who had only just moved into the catchment area. Initially, engagement indicated that the parents had no preference. However, after taking time to review all of the information available to them, the parents of this new family indicated their preference for their four children (one of whom was about to progress to Lochgilphead High School in August 2024) to attend Inveraray Primary School. Following the indication that a placing request would be made to that effect, all parents in the catchment area were again contacted. The one parent who wanted their child to return to Furnace updated the Education Service that they were now in the process of moving away from the area. The remainder of the parents (two families) believe that it is in the best interest of their children to attend Inveraray Primary School. Accordingly, there are currently no children attending Furnace Primary School. 3.4 As members will recall, Minard Primary School formally closed with effect from 31st May 2024. As part of that decision, the catchment area of Furnace Primary School was extended to include the former Minard Primary School catchment area. To date, this has not yet had, and is not currently projected to have, any
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3 material impact on the projected School roll for Furnace Primary School. Officers will continue to monitor the projected School roll over the forthcoming months. 4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 It is recommended that the Community Services Committee agree that: 4.1.1 Furnace Primary School is mothballed on a temporary basis, and that the building be retained for one year on a care and maintenance basis. 4.1.2 Officers will conduct a review of the School’s mothballing ahead of the Committee’s December 2025 meeting, at which members can decide on a continued period of mothballing; or request that officers commence a preliminary exercise to examine the future options for Furnace Primary School. 4.1.3 The community shall have pre-arranged access to the building to promote any community functions during the period of mothballing. 5.0 DETAIL 5.1 The school roll at Furnace Primary School has been falling over a number of years. It declined rapidly over a short period of time from April - August 2022, due to families exercising parental choice and making placing requests to other primary schools. 5.2 Since April 2023, there have been no children attending Furnace Primary School. The pupils are enrolled in Furnace Primary School but attend Inveraray Primary School. Parental preference is for them to attend Inveraray Primary School. There were no new Primary 1 pupils registered to attend Furnace in session 2024- 25. 5.3 As all Furnace Primary School pupils have been attending Inveraray Primary School, relevant members of staff, such as the clerical staff, have been based at Inveraray Primary School since April 2023. The Principal Teacher returned in October 2024 and is based in Inveraray Primary School. A focus on supporting pupils from the Furnace Primary School catchment area is being prioritised. 5.4 The mothballing of a school is a temporary measure. It does not require a statutory consultation to be carried out as it is an informal non-statutory measure. It is appropriate where the Education Authority considers that a school is not presently viable, but do not wish to close immediately in order to assess the prospects of the number of pupils in the area increasing to the extent that the school should be re-opened in the future. 5.5 The Scottish Government’s Statutory Guidance on the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 stresses that this flexibility to close for a temporary period is not used to undermine the requirements of the 2010 Act to consult on all proposals. Mothballing is only appropriate for a temporary period, should be subject to at least and annual review and, in most cases, should last no more than three years in total.
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4 5.6 As Furnace Primary School pupils have been attending Inveraray Primary School since April 2023, and no new P1 pupils were enrolled for session 2024/25 at Furnace Primary School, it is recommended that the School is mothballed on a temporary basis for a period of one year. A review of the mothballing would thereafter be undertaken by officers and reported back to this Committee in December 2025 - at which point members can decide whether to continue to mothball the School, or begin the process of considering the preliminary requirements of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010. 5.7 In particular, during any period of mothballing, officers would propose to review whether the recent closure of Minard Primary School, and realignment of its catchment area to Furnace Primary School, is likely to have any effect on the viability of Furnace Primary School’s projected school roll in the forthcoming years. 5.8 In the event of a sufficient number of school age pupils moving to live within the catchment area for Furnace Primary School and seeking to attend the School, or making placing requests to attend the School, the present situation is that the School may require to re-open at the next appropriate session if a sufficient level of demand can be demonstrated and if staff can be recruited. 6.0 CONCLUSION 6.1 It is proposed that Members agree to the temporary mothballing of Furnace Primary School until December 2025, at which point the Committee will receive a further report reviewing the mothballing and either inviting them to decide on a continued period of mothballing; or for the Education Service to begin gathering the necessary information to carry out the exercise of assessing the options for the future of Furnace Primary School, in accordance with the preliminary requirements of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010. 7.0 IMPLICATIONS 7.1 Policy – None 7.2 Financial – If the mothballing of the School is agreed, there will be costs associated with the upkeep and maintenance of the School premises. 7.3 Legal – The provisions of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 will subsequently apply if the Authority later decide to formulate a proposal under that Act in order to assess and ultimately determine the future of Furnace Primary School. 7.4 HR – None 7.5 Fairer Duty Scotland 7.5.1 Equalities 7.5.2 Socio-Economic Duty – None at present 7.5.3 Islands – None
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5 7.6 Risk – None at present 7.7 Customer Service – None at present 7.8 Climate Change – None 7.9 UNCRC – Under this legislation we are required to act in the best interests of the child. Given the age and stage of children and in line with Article 5 (parental guidance and a child’s evolving capacities) views of children have been given through their parents (Article 13). This has helped ensure that children are not unsettled by uncertainty around the school they should attend. Time has been provided to allow parents to reflect and discuss with their child. All children from Furnace Primary School were involved in the recruitment process of the Shared Head Teacher. Should there be any pre-consultation/statutory consultation in due course, pupils’ views will be sought with approach being agreed with parents. Priority has been given to maintaining the right to education (Article 28). Any reports in relation to the future of Furnace Primary School will be communicated to the pupils of Furnace and Inveraray Primary Schools by the Head Teacher, supported by parents in a child friendly way. Douglas Hendry - Executive Director with responsibility for Education Councillor Audrey Forrest - Policy Lead for Education For further information please contact: Jennifer Crocket Chief Education Officer/ Head of Education-Wellbeing, Inclusion and Achievement Jennifer.crocket@argyll-bute.gov.uk / 01546604288 Wendy Brownlie Head of Education: Performance and Improvement wendy.brownlie@argyll-bute.gov.uk / 01369707118 Rosie Mackay Education Manager rosie.mackay@argyll-bute.gov.uk / 01436567674 6th November 2024