Aberdeenshire Council considering school mergers and closures
Aberdeenshire Council is considering closing and merging schools across the region as it looks to create a more “effective” education system.
The local authority says the changes are needed to allow it to have a more sustainable learning estate.
Council chiefs say this would improve the effectiveness of its educational provision and ensure its work force can be more efficient.
They also argue the changes would “meet the current and future needs of communities” across the region.
A particular focus has been placed on schools with less than 75 pupils and those operating at less than 50 per cent capacity.
Aberdeenshire Council has 149 primary schools, of which three are currently mothballed.
At the moment, 67 schools have 75 youngsters or less.
And of that sum, 50 have less than 50 pupils which also equates to a third of the school estate.
Under current pupil roll forecasts, 40 schools would operate below half capacity by 2028.
Members of the education and children’s services committee were recently given an update on how the project is getting on.
Earlier this year, information and surveys were issued within the Turriff, Banff and Westhill clusters.
Focus groups have been held too and a number of initial recommendations have been revealed.
Committee chairman David Keating told the chamber he recently chaired a consultation meeting on the closure of Clatt School.
The Inverurie councillor explained that the choice to shut its educational facilities for good isn’t always easy.
“I was struck at how emotive these decisions are for our communities,” he said.
“There were strong, often conflicting feelings in the room yet we managed a good and respectful discussion.”
But despite this, there is one major factor the local authority can’t avoid when it comes to closures.
Merging the facilities could help the council save cash.
Its education and children’s services are forecast to be £2.262m over budget this year.
On average it costs the local authority around £261,000 to run King Edward School, which equates to £11,358 per pupil.
Meanwhile, the council pays more than £2.5 million for Banff Primary to operate per year, averaging out to £9,094 per child.
Excess primary school capacity has posed a challenge to the council in the Banff area.
Larger schools such as Portsoy and Aberchirder are said to have “healthy” pupil numbers.
But, the local authority is considering alternative uses for the empty spaces in each building as they cannot be partially closed due to their design.
An example of this can be seen at Aberchirder where the village library has been moved into the school.
Meanwhile, the Ladysbridge area may be rezoned to help the rising roll at Whitehills School.
A big change could be made in the Turriff area that would see three schools close and merge into one.
Pupil numbers at Crudie, Fintry and King Edward schools have been declining and are expected to keep falling in future years.
At the moment, Fintry and King Edward school just have one class.
But the council says the reduction in youngsters could reach a point where the schools “may no longer be viable”.
Crudie currently runs as a two class school and is expected to continue this way for the next three years.
More public consultation will be carried out in the spring, with a potential solution to the situation expected to be put forward no later than August 2027.
Suggestions had been made to build a new community campus in Westhill, incorporating a replacement academy and potentially a primary school.
However, the council has recently carried out refurbishment work at Westhill Primary, Crombie and Elrick School so a project of this size would not feasible.
Over at Skene School, a temporary classroom will be removed as it is no longer needed.
Meanwhile, all of Aberdeenshire’s secondary school catchment areas will be rezoned with work due to begin by 2027.
This is needed as it was discovered that there are areas where primary and secondary catchments don’t match up.
There are also some school catchment areas that go across multiple council borders.
Engagement will begin in the Ellon, Meldrum and Mintlaw clusters next month.
This ties in with the work already being done around the potential merger of Foveran and Tippery schools.
