Grangemouth Primary Schools in Jeapordy under Labour & Tories

Grangemouth SNP Councillor, Angus MacDonald, has voiced grave concern over the future of two of the town's Primary Schools following a refusal by the Convener of Falkirk Council's Education and Leisure Committee to assure the SNP member that the Port's Beancross Primary and Sacred Heart RC Primary would stay open.

The request from Cllr MacDonald for an assurance that the two schools would stay open followed a report to the Tory / Labour Council's Education Committee which showed that the current occupancy rate at both schools was sitting at 51 per cent. Any schools with an occupancy rate of between 41 - 60% are classed as 'low occupancy'. Cllr MacDonald's concerns were further heightened when a revised system of calculating occupancy puts Beancross Primary at 49%. In addition, the medium term projection for Beancross Primary School suggests that the occupancy level in 2012 will be 37%, with the long-term occupancy level projected to be 46% in 2025.

Speaking at the Council's Education & Leisure Committee, Cllr MacDonald said:

"When I first laid eyes on this report I have to admit that alarm bells started to ring immediately. I have followed events in other Scottish Councils from the Western Isles down to City of Edinburgh and reports such as this are often the pre-cursor to school closures or consolidation.

For example there are two schools in Grangemouth with an occupancy level of between 49 and 54%. I therefore seek an assurance from the Convener that there will be no school closures in Falkirk District."

Following a second attempt to allow the Convener to give a categorical assurance that there would be no school closures, he failed to do so.

Following the meeting, Cllr MacDonald stated that he would continue to pursue the matter until the Convener "gives a straight answer, one way or the other."