Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 - Skipness Primary School
Argyll and Bute Council · 25 August 2022
Back to Community Services Committee — 25 August 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE EDUCATION 25 AUGUST 2022 SCHOOLS (CONSULTATION) (SCOTLAND) ACT 2010 – SKIPNESS PRIMARY SCHOOL 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 This report provides details of the outcome and findings of the statutory consultation exercise undertaken in respect of the formal proposal to close Skipness Primary School as detailed in the published Consultation Report (Appendix A); and in accordance with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 as amended. 1.2 It is recommended that the Community Services Committee members: (a) Note the contents of the Consultation Report (Appendix A); and (b) Approve the implementation of the following proposal: i. Education Provision at Skipness Primary School be permanently discontinued with effect from 1st December 2022. ii. The pupils of Skipness Primary School’s catchment area continue to receive their education at Tarbert Primary School on a permanent basis with effect from 1st December 2022. iii. The delineated catchment area of Tarbert Primary School be permanently extended to subsume the whole delineated catchment area of Skipness Primary School from 1st December 2022.
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE EDUCATION 25 AUGUST 2022 SCHOOLS (CONSULTATION) (SCOTLAND) ACT 2010 – SKIPNESS PRIMARY SCHOOL 2.0 INTRODUCTION 2.1 When considering the future of a rural school the Education Authority must meet the preliminary requirements of s.12A the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 as amended. 2.2 The Council is required to prepare and publish a Proposal Paper which clearly sets out the proposal on which the Council is consulting. The Proposal Paper must include details of the proposed date for implementation, the educational benefits statement, a summary of the consultation process and details of the supporting evidence or information used to formulate the proposal. 2.3 The 2010 Act also requires that at the close of the consultation process, Education Scotland mush consider the educational aspects of the Council’s proposal and prepare and submit a report to the Council for consideration by the Council when preparing its final Consultation report. 2.4 The Council is then required to prepare and publish its final Consultation Report taking into consideration the report from Education Scotland and all other responses received within the consultation period. 2.5 The Consultation Report must explain how the Council has reviewed the proposal, a summary of the points raised during the consultation period and the Council’s response to them, details of any alleged inaccuracies or omissions, and, for rural schools, an assessment of rural school factors. 2.6 The Council will then make a decision on whether or not to implement the proposal.
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3.0 RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 It is recommended that the Community Services Committee members: (a) Note the contents of the Consultation Report (Appendix A); and (b) Approve the implementation of the following proposal: i. Education Provision at Skipness Primary School be permanently discontinued with effect from 1st December 2022. ii. The pupils of Skipness Primary School’s catchment area continue to receive their education at Tarbert Primary School on a permanent basis with effect from 1st December 2022. iii. The delineated catchment area of Tarbert Primary School be permanently extended to subsume the whole delineated catchment area of Skipness Primary School from 1st December 2022. 4.0 DETAIL 4.1 This report provides details of the outcome and findings of the statutory consultation exercise undertaken in respect of the formal proposal to close Skipness Primary School as detailed in the published Consultation Report (Appendix A); and in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 as amended. 4.2 In accordance with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 as amended, a report was produced by Education Scotland on the educational aspects of the proposal (Appendix B). The Education Scotland Report supports the proposal in that it has clear educational benefits for current and future pupils of Skipness Primary School; the support from stakeholders; lack of viability due to insufficient children within the catchment area; and the delivery of best value. Argyll and Bute Council are committed when taking forward the proposal to work with the Skipness community. 4.3 Having considered the report from Education Scotland and all other responses received within the consultation period, officers carried out a further review of the proposal and a Consultation Report was thereafter prepared and published for public scrutiny on the Councils website (School consultations and proposals (argyll-bute.gov.uk) from 4th August 2022. This provided a full three week period prior to a final Committee decision on 25th August 2022, in compliance with Section 9 (3) and Section 11 of the 2010 Act as amended.
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5.0 CONCLUSION 5.1 The Consultation Report for Skipness Primary School has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 as amended. 5.2 Following the outcome of the statutory consultation exercise detailed in the Consultation Report (Appendix A), having due regard to relevant written and oral representations as well as Education Scotland’s Report, and following a further review of the proposal and reasonable alternatives having regard to rural school factors, it is recommended that the decision to implement the proposal that education provision at Skipness Primary School be permanently discontinued; the pupils of Skipness Primary School’s catchment area continue to receive their education at Tarbert Primary School on a permanent basis; and the delineated catchment area of Tarbert Primary School be permanently extended to subsume the whole delineated catchment area of Skipness Primary School with effect from 1st December 2022. 6.0 IMPLICATIONS 6.1 Policy - An authority that is formulating a rural school Consultation Report must Satisfy the requirements of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 as amended. 6.2 Financial – there are financial implications for each option. 6.3 Legal – The Consultation Report for Skipness Primary School has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 as amended. 6.4 HR - none 6.5 Fairer Scotland Duty: none at present 6.5.1 Equalities - protected characteristics – none at present 6.5.2 Socio-economic Duty – none at present 6.5.3 Islands – none at present 6.6 Climate Change – neutral impact due to proposed changes 6.7 Risk – none at present 6.8 Customer Service – none at present
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Douglas Hendry - Executive Director with responsibility for Education Councillor Yvonne Mcneilly - Policy Lead for Education 14th July 2022 For further information please contact: Jennifer Crocket Head of Education: Lifelong Learning and Support Jennifer.Crocket@argyll-bute.gov.uk Wendy Brownlie Head of Education: Teaching and Learning Wendy.Brownlie@argyll-bute.gov.uk Simone McAdam Education Manager – Performance and Improvement Simone.McAdam@argyll-bute.gov.uk APPENDICES Appendix A – Consultation Report – Skipness Primary School