St Vigeans Primary School
Members' business is a debate on motion S1M-959, in the name of Alex Johnstone. The debate will be concluded, without any question being put, after 30 minutes.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament commends the quality of education provided at St. Vigeans Primary School near Arbroath; notes the concerns currently being expressed by the parents of children attending St. Vigeans about the possible closure of the school by Angus Council, and believes that the local authority should give full consideration to these concerns, given that rural primary schools are an intrinsic part of the rural way of life in Scotland.
It was only when I became a member of the Parliament that I started to travel regularly by train. On my journeys from Stonehaven to Edinburgh during the first few days of the Parliament, I noticed a building to the north of Arbroath. It was quite an attractive building, sitting on top of a small mound. I was surprised to discover later that it was St Vigeans Primary School. The school was brought to my attention by people in the Arbroath area when it was suggested that the school might be closed.
A report that was published on 25 April goes into detail on the quality of the education provided at St Vigeans. The report is positive about the school: two categories are judged to be very good, 13 are judged to be good, five are judged to be fair and none are judged to be unsatisfactory. The report points out that the school's toilets are a poor feature. However, the parents have been saying that for years, and have been asking the council to upgrade them. There has been no capital expenditure on the school for eight years.
On 25 April, the education committee of the SNP-controlled Angus Council instructed the council's director of education to undertake preliminary consultation with staff and parents on the possibility of closing St Vigeans in June 2001. On 6 June, the education committee received the education director's report, recommending a statutory consultation exercise on closure. The committee accepted that, and the formal consultation process ran to 31 August.
The St Vigeans parents challenged a number of the education director's key points in the report. The report suggested that all gym activities take place in the local hall when, in fact, in suitable weather conditions physical education takes place in the field adjoining the school.
As recently as 1997, parents were quoted £40,000 to £50,000 as the sum estimated as being required for upgrading. The council now suggests that £250,000 would be the minimum amount. The parents refute that figure and have their own fully costed plans, which would cost some £70,000. They also point out that the council's figure of £250,000 includes improvements that are not needed. The replacement of windows and doors, for example, would cost £25,000, yet the existing ones seem perfectly adequate.
The report fails to point out that of the 33 Angus primary schools with fewer than 85 pupils, St Vigeans, with a cost per pupil per annum of £2,261 in 1998-99, is the most efficient.
The report says that there are problems of sound transmission between the classrooms, but that has never been raised by pupils, parents or teachers.
The report goes on to say that it is difficult to argue that St Vigeans Primary School is a focal point for community life in this area. Parents refute that accusation and say that the school is a key feature of local life.
On 14 September, the decision to close St Vigeans was taken. The recommendation will be referred to the First Minister—
I believe that there are two Conservative members on the council. The council has considered the matter more than once, and at no point did either of those councillors vote not to shut the school. Does Alex Johnstone think that he knows better than local councillors how to deal with the local situation?
There are indeed two Conservative councillors on Angus Council, but I would not presume to dictate how they should act. They are not local to the area concerned, but come from some way distant.
Not as distant as Mr Johnstone.
Order. Let us proceed.
Angus Council has consistently suggested that St Vigeans is not a rural school. However, the parents, pupils and teachers all consider it to be a rural school in many ways. St Vigeans is a small village outside Arbroath—close to it, admittedly, but separate from it. The school is in a unique setting with rural characteristics. It takes part in village life, it has links with the village church and it uses the village hall for a gym. Anyone considering the location of the school would see that it is a rural school. Parents feel that Angus Council has decided that it is not a rural school because that will enable the Council to close it more easily.
Angus Council seems to regard it as a sign of weakness that, in the term before summer, of the 42 pupils at the school, 28 came from outwith the delineated area, as a result of parental choice. Parents believe that that is a sign of how good the education provided at St Vigeans is. The parents choose to bring their children to the school because of its quality.
The chairman of the council's education committee, Brian Milne, has consistently suggested that this closure is not motivated by financial considerations. He tells us that it is motivated by the fact that the school is below the quality that is expected. However, the quality of the school building is partly due to the fact that it has received no investment over the past eight years; in that time, the council has failed to upgrade adequately the accommodation. Now Mr Milne argues that the school must close, but suggests that that is not for financial reasons.
The parents are especially concerned that their children will have to move from this small rural school into large primary schools in the Arbroath area. That, above all, is the concern that motivates the views that have been expressed to me. Many people in this room will have experienced the problems of moving from a village school to an important secondary school in a county town. The parents and I are concerned that the pupils of St Vigeans will have to suffer the consequences of that experience at a much younger age than is normally the case.
I have today put the case for one village school. I hope, when he winds up, that the minister will take the opportunity to comment on this one school in the context of a whole range of schools that have been discussed before, and will be discussed in the future.
We have about 15 minutes for the open debate and five members would like to speak. I am sure that you can work out for yourselves that you have three minutes apiece if everyone is to get a chance.
I have always tried to prevent rural primary school closures, and I have saved Angus rural primary schools from such closure threats. However, I have always made those efforts on the merits of each individual case. I cannot, in all honesty, argue against this particular closure.
St Vigeans is not some idyll of a remote rural primary school that is serving its local community, as this deliberately misleading motion would have us believe. More St Vigeans residents choose to send their children elsewhere than choose to send them to their local school. Two thirds of its pupils come from outside the area. No community groups make use of the school buildings outwith school hours, except the parent-teachers association. The school is within the Arbroath area 30 mph limit, and children walk to school from the town.
The building, which dates from 1874, is completely inadequate for 21st century education. It cannot simply be patched up; it would require major replacement works. The gym hall is approximately a quarter of a mile away from the school. There is a lack of space for staff, storage or confidential discussions with parents. There is poor heating, poor acoustics, and a lack of a physical barrier between the play area and two main roads. Unaccompanied, children have to go in twos to get to the outside toilets. Post-Dunblane, they have to press a security buzzer to get back in. One of the two classroom teachers must leave her class unattended to open the door. Outside toilets might be acceptable to the Tory party, but they are totally unacceptable for 21st century Angus education.
The Government has ruled out any money or borrowing consent for a new St Vigeans school building. Therefore, resources for upgrading or replacement can only come from greater-priority-need Angus capital projects. Alex Johnstone has always ducked this issue. Let him now tell the parents of Angus which school projects he wants to cut out in order to rebuild St Vigeans. If he succeeds in getting the Government to keep St Vigeans open, which greater-priority-need projects does he demand that Angus Council axe to allow that to happen? I would be very happy to hear from him. He has always ducked the reality of what he is proposing. Kirkriggs Primary School? Maisondieu Primary School? Edzell Primary School? Which should be axed? That would be the consequence of the proposals in Alex Johnstone's motion.
In cases of true rural primary schools with no alternative within reach, pupils would have to be bused out of that area if their funding were lost. We have heard nothing about that in the motion or from Alex Johnstone. Angus Council has a superb record in secondary school and primary school building and investment across the district, from Letham to Glenisla and from Rosemount Primary School in Montrose to Hayshead Primary School in Arbroath. Rural schools have been given priority, from Birkhill and Mattocks to Glamis and Aberlemno.
I will be interested in the Government's response, given that this Government espouses value for money and best value. Where is the value in taking resources from higher-priority-need projects and transferring them to a primary school which does not serve its local community, while existing, underused, high-quality rural and urban alternative places are available? Arguments about new housing developments in Warddykes are irrelevant, given that Warddykes Primary School has a capacity for 440 pupils and an actual roll of 260 pupils. Places are available in both rural and urban areas.
Alex Johnstone made no submission whatever during the formal public consultation process, and the decision by Angus Council to close St Vigeans Primary School was unanimous—it was backed by two Angus Tory councillors. The views of local Tories have therefore been ignored by regional Tory MSPs, whose educational policy is now all over the place. Tory councillors, with local knowledge and actual responsibility, say "Close it", while regional Tory MSPs, with no responsibility whatever, say "Keep it open and spend money on it", but will not say what they will close elsewhere to pay for that decision.
Alex Johnstone has led St Vigeans parents up the garden path on this issue, by acting without an ounce of responsibility as to the consequences of what would happen if the Government were now to contradict its own policies and act on the basis of this misleading motion. He should be ashamed of himself.
I will draw my breath, Presiding Officer, after that measured and considered approach by the member for Angus.
I thank Alex Johnstone for raising the matter of the closure of St Vigeans school. We on the Education, Culture and Sport Committee often receive petitions about the closure or threatened closure of rural schools. I wanted to take part in this debate because it strikes me that, having seen much material about St Vigeans from both Angus Council and the parents, and having visited the school in my capacity of Conservative education spokesman, I feel that this is a classic example of a local authority ignoring its customers and pressing on regardless.
Will Mr Monteith give way on that point?
No, I am just beginning, and I will return the courtesy that Shona Robison's fellow SNP members extended to me.
What are the main reasons for the proposed closure? The first is the cramped staffroom and offices, about which the staff and teachers do not seem to be sufficiently concerned to believe that the school should close; they believe that the school should remain open. The second is the outside toilets for pupils. I find that an interesting argument in the context of the general accommodation in the school, but particularly in that of the refurbishment of the toilets. For a long time, the parents have argued that the toilets should be upgraded. For those reasons, it is argued, the school should be closed. Yet, if it is to be closed and the pupils relocated, they would end up at Warddykes Primary School. If they were educated in some of the huts at Warddykes, they would have to go outside and across the playground in all sorts of weather to reach the toilets. I therefore argue against the rationale that outside toilets are the problem.
Having considered the evidence, it strikes me that the real problem is—
Will Mr Monteith give way?
No. Mr Welsh has had his go.
There is a problem throughout the country because local authorities that have not spent adequately on schools now say that, because of that lack of investment, schools must close. Small schools, which are popular and which give good value and good educational results, must be supported and more should be done to help them. I hope that the minister and the Education, Culture and Sport Committee will be able to do more.
Having heard a litany of reasons as to why the school should be closed, I cannot for the life of me understand why parents would want to send their children there, but send their children there they do. The parents do not share the concerns expressed by some members, and by the council, that those reasons are good enough to merit closure.
Alex Johnstone may not be able to say what he would do to change Angus Council's budget. That is because, as he has consistently said and Angus Council has consistently affirmed, the school is not closing for financial reasons. However, Mr Welsh tells us that it must be something to do with the budget. The council says that its decision is not budget driven. If it is not budget driven, we must be told why the school is to close, because it is certainly not for educational reasons and it is certainly not because of the fabric, as the alternatives are no better.
Some of us—myself, the minister, John Farquhar Munro and Andrew Welsh—have been here before with this type of debate in our former lives as councillors. That is a point to which I shall return. I can understand why Alex Johnstone has lodged his motion and I congratulate him on securing a debate. Decisions on school closures are always difficult.
Members will recall that the Education, Culture and Sport Committee asked me to look into the issue of rural schools and rural schools closures, and I produced my report just before the summer recess. One thing that struck me quite forcibly in conducting that exercise is that having detailed debates such as this, although worthy and understandable, is rather dangerous, as it undermines the autonomy and authority of local government.
Mr Welsh indicated agreement.
I see that Mr Welsh is nodding in agreement.
Before we were elected, there was a scare among the councils, which were worried that there would be nothing to prevent the Scottish Parliament removing education services from the remit of local authorities. We owe it to our hard-working councils to be very careful about such issues and to send out the right messages. Mr Peacock, Mr Munro and I have argued about school closures in another place in the past but, like it or lump it, such decisions properly belong to local authorities. It would send a dangerous message if this Parliament were to attempt to change that situation.
Mr Monteith is on the Education, Culture and Sport Committee so he will know what I mean. We have strayed dangerously near the point where we probably should not go, where our remit and that of local authorities may appear to overlap. We can legislate and change the rules apropos rural schools and we may do that in due course, but that is up to the Executive, the minister and the committee. We may want to tweak the five-mile rule or the numbers and ratios, but that is as far as our role extends.
On a more positive note, I have always felt that the way forward is to have a more joined-up—although I do not like that expression—approach to rural education. I know that the minister agrees with me about that. If there is a separate village hall for leisure facilities, a school, a police station and a social worker, surely it makes sense to consider bringing those services together under one roof. In a small village with a one-man police house, why not have it by the school? That would help school security. This morning the Education, Culture and Sport Committee was asking Rhona Brankin about libraries. Why do we have a public library in one part of the town and a separate school library? Both facilities cost the council tax payer and we could achieve economies and improvements by bringing such facilities together.
The way out of this thorny, difficult issue is for the Executive and the Parliament to consider bringing services together. There have been some moves—Sam Galbraith and Peter Peacock have mentioned community schools and have undertaken to consider taking the principle down to primary school level. I am sure that that is the way forward.
The issues are clear. Children in the 21st century deserve a fit-for-purpose learning environment. It would cost £0.25 million to bring the facilities at St Vigeans Primary School up to standard. The council has a number of competing spending priorities and several schools in the area have spare capacity. Objective analysis of that situation meant that the arguments in favour of closure significantly outweighed the arguments for retention.
The need to provide value for money and to make decisions in the best interests of children was reflected in the fact that last week the council, including Alex Johnstone's Conservative colleagues, voted unanimously for closure. The bottom line was that the building was not up to standard in a number of ways—it is not safe for children and it is disruptive to learning. The shortcomings were acknowledged in principle by the parents.
Alex Johnstone mentioned the HM inspectors of schools report that was published in April. HMI recommended that steps should be taken to make certain property improvements. There must therefore have been concern that the building's shortcomings would have a detrimental impact on the quality of education, no matter how dedicated the staff or how supportive the parents.
Children can now be educated in school buildings—some of which are rural; Warddykes is not the only alternative—that meet a higher standard than the current St Vigeans Primary School building and that offer at least an equally high educational standard, as educational standards are high right across the Angus Council area.
The nearest of the alternatives is only 0.6 miles away; St Vigeans is very close to Arbroath and is not rural in the sense of being isolated. I resent the implication in the motion that Angus Council is in any way threatening rural life, because it has an outstanding record of supporting rural development and of promoting initiatives to support and sustain rural communities.
I remind Alex Johnstone and Brian Monteith that more St Vigeans parents send their children elsewhere than to the local school, reflecting the ease with which other schools can be accessed and perhaps the fact that the school is not an absolutely vital part of the local infrastructure. It may be that, with vastly increased capital resources, the council would never have closed the school, but that is not a luxury afforded to Angus Council, or indeed any local authority in Scotland, today's announcements notwithstanding. However, that is a matter better addressed by the Scottish Executive.
For the second time recently, I find myself in the unusual position of replying to a debate about a particular school but being unable to address the specific question of the school's future.
I am aware that, as a number of members have said, Angus Council last week agreed unanimously to close the school. As I understand it, because the number of pupils is greater than 80 per cent of the school's capacity, the closure must be referred to ministers for a decision. As members might expect, because the decision was made so recently by Angus Council, I have not yet received papers or any advice from officials. It would therefore be inappropriate for me to comment on the circumstances of St Vigeans. We will have to await the council's application to the Executive, which will enable us to give the issue the consideration that it requires. To do otherwise at this stage would prejudice consideration of the case. Nevertheless, it has been useful to hear the points that have been made; I assure members that all those points will be taken into account when we come to make a decision.
The motion asks the Parliament to commend the quality of education at St Vigeans. Alex Johnstone and others have commented on that quality. The recent HMI report on the school gives an up-to-date and comprehensive summation of the school. I am happy to associate myself with that report, which makes it clear that St Vigeans provides a good quality of education in a number of respects, although, like most school reports, it notes that there is room for improvement. I am confident that the standards in most of Angus Council's schools will meet or exceed the standards set at St Vigeans.
Setting aside the particular case, I understand concerns about school closures and the strong feelings that they can generate. As Jamie Stone said, he and I encountered similar circumstances many times in Highland Council. However, local authorities have a responsibility to keep the provision of schools under review; that applies in all areas and to all types of settlements. When an authority proposes to close a school, there is a statutory consultation process involving parents and school boards to ensure that there is a full opportunity for all issues surrounding a closure proposal to be aired and to be properly debated in the proper place—the local council.
I am concerned that, in his motion and in the debate, Mr Johnstone placed such stress on St Vigeans as a rural school, putting the matter in the context of wider rural issues. There is no precise definition of a rural school, but most people use the term to denote a degree of remoteness from other schools and from the facilities available in larger communities. I am not at all sure that it does genuine debate about rural schools any good to draw into that definition a school that, although in a country setting, is on the outskirts of a major town, close to other schools and close to the kinds of facilities that are available in towns but not so readily available in truly rural areas.
No doubt in arriving at the decision, Angus Council was aware of the attendance pattern at St Vigeans, which a number of members have mentioned. I understand that the bulk of the pupils come from outwith the catchment area and go home each evening to other communities. I am not sure that that characterises a rural school of the kind I am familiar with in other parts of Scotland. Equally, Angus Council no doubt took account of the fact that more pupils from the St Vigeans Primary School catchment area attend other schools than attend it. Again, that does not resemble the rural schools that I am familiar with. I will not be drawn into commenting on rural school issues in a debate about a school that is in close proximity to a town where there is obvious scope for free movement to alternative schools, as Irene McGugan and others have said.
It is often suggested that, if there were only more resources for schools in need of upgrading, the issue of closures would not arise. That is unrealistic. Authorities that are exercising proper stewardship should always be casting a critical eye over their building stock, including schools. That is entirely sensible and wholly in keeping with the principles of best value that, as Jack McConnell announced today, will apply not only to local government but to Executive functions. Faced with the need to upgrade and improve school accommodation, an authority should review the options very carefully. All responsible public bodies must ask themselves what the impact of their decisions will be on local and national taxpayers.
I could take this opportunity to have fun at the expense of the SNP. In Parliament, the SNP gives the impression of being opposed to the closure of small schools. I could make the point that, when people entrust the SNP with power—in very limited circumstances—it behaves differently. However, I will resist that—
I must wrap up, Andrew.
I would be more concerned about an authority that unquestioningly goes ahead with a programme of expenditure than one that takes proper account of its assets and how they are managed.
Unlike the Conservative party, which presided over 18 years of neglect of our school buildings and consistently reduced the amount of capital that authorities could spend on them, the Executive is demonstrably putting more resources into school buildings. As early as July 1997, we had identified the previous neglect and allocated £115 million over five years under the new deal for schools to help authorities to tackle the backlog of repairs and maintenance. We have guaranteed financial support for school public-private partnership projects with a capital value of over £500 million in 10 authorities. We have also just announced arrangements under which financial support will be made available to authorities to help to prepare further PPP schemes. The announcements that Jack McConnell made today, which we hope to flesh out over coming days, will help us to go further with that. Our recent consultation paper on national priorities also demonstrates our commitment to school buildings. In the case of St Vigeans, Angus Council was clearly considering all the expenditure priorities that it faced.
Ministers will look carefully at the Angus Council proposals when they arrive on our desks and at the procedures that have been followed and the representations that have been made. We will consider all that before we reach a decision on the school's individual merits. As I said, the points that have been made in this debate will be taken fully into account in arriving at that decision.
Meeting closed at 17:30.