Plea to secure school's future

Colvend parents are urging people in the area to support their effortsin keeping their “fantastic” school safe from closure.

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Their plea comes as the council prepares to consider closing or mothballing up to 36 rural schools across the region in a bid to make around £35 million of savings over the next three years.

‘The current threshold for mothballing a school is if it falls below 10 pupils or less.

Changing that threshold to 25 pupils or less failed to make the cut in the previous year’s budget.

This time around there are three options to “consult on school closures” - the most extreme of which would be schools with 50 pupils or less.

This could potentially put the future of 36 schools in jeopardy, leading to total savings of more than £3.5 million by 2028/29.

School roll census figures presented to the education committee previously show that Auchencairn, Colvend, Dalry, Gelston, Kells, Kirkgunzeon, Lochrutton, New Abbey, Palnackie, Shawhead and Twynholm Primaries all had rolls below 50 pupils at that point.

Mum Georgie Mabbs, whose three children all attended Colvend, said: “We need the support from locals to keep Colvend Primary School open and feel that not enough parents know how beneficial a small rural school could be for their children.