Learning Estate Strategy: 'Keith is in a good place'
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KEITH is currently not considered to be one of the initial priorities of a review into Moray Council's future education provision.
Interested members of the public were invited to discuss the Learning Estate Strategy at a drop-in session at Keith Community Centre on Monday, February 28.
The strategy, approved in December last year, aims to provide a sustainable education service going forward with a focus on meeting individual needs.
As part of that process, occupancy, suitability and the condition of each school premises will be considered.
The current condition of schools in Elgin, Buckie and Forres means that they will most likely take priority.
Kevin McDermott, Community Learning and Development Service Manager at Moray Council, said: "I think Keith is in a good place really. It has the new primary school now, a new nursery as well but this is only the start of the process. This is really only about information. It's about information sharing.
"We're looking at roughly two years for these suitability reports to be done.
"Buckie, Forres and Elgin have the highest level of need so they're going to be prioritised first so I don't know where Keith comes in terms of that cycle but it's certainly not going to be one of the first ones.
"We'll assess the rest when we have the updated school roll forecast and the condition and suitability report."
Scottish Government figures from September 2020 rated the condition of Moray's school buildings as the worst of all 32 local authorities in Scotland.
Keith Grammar School, Crossroads Primary School and St Thomas Primary School are, according to 2019's condition and suitability summary, in poor condition as well.
Carlene Harding, who works in early learning and childcare in Keith, attended the drop-in session.
She found the session "informative" but would like to see the condition of Keith Grammar School addressed.
"I would like to see Keith Grammar School upgraded a little bit. I was a pupil there and it really hasn't changed at all.
"It has served its purpose but it definitely has signs of wear and tear.
"The community is starting to grow. There are new housing schemes so I suppose my other interest was about whether or not the learning estates for the Keith area would be able to cope with the increased demand.
"I realise the priority they have in regards to those areas (Elgin, Buckie and Forres) because they have larger communities and it might take some time for them to get to the Keith area but hopefully in the not too distant future more can be done in Keith.
"It has had little bits and pieces done to it but there's only so much a patch job can do."
For more information on the Learning Estate Strategy visit Moray Council's website or contact the Learning Estate Team via LearningEstate@moray.gov.uk.
