Commenting on Lack of Spare Places in Dundee Primary Schools to Cope with A Rising Number of Children

The figures obtained from the City Council support the warnings I have issued in recent years. I have made it clear to the Council that it is continuing to reduce capacity in our primary schools through school mergers and school closures while the number of school pupils in Dundee is continuing to rise. This is a recipe for disappointment for parents and carers when they can't get their child a place in school. 

Bearing in mind that our Primary schools and Nursery schools will need extra places to cope with a doubling of nursery hours by 2020, the Council can't be complacent about this. New school buildings or conversions take a long time, 4-5 years, to put in place. 

When the next School Estate Review is published in the Autumn, we will be able to see whether Councillor Hunter is continuing to ignore warnings that he is gambling with the future of our school children by failing to change direction. I don't want Dundee to be known as Dundee City of Portable Classrooms.

Commenting on the Addition of Modular Classrooms at Claypotts Castle Primary School

I have been advised that the Council will be adding temporary modular classrooms at Claypotts Castle Primary School over the summer. This was surprising because it's one of our new schools that only opened its doors in June 2008. I understand the extra classrooms are required to accommodate the increasing number of children who live in the school's catchment area. 

It is positive that the extra accommodation is to provided, because the alternative would mean improvising use of other areas within the school which would constrain the curriculum for our pupils. It is however very disappointing that a school that is just eight years old is too small. How did Council staff get their calculations so wrong? 

This is unfortunately not the first time that our new schools have proved to be too small. Craigowl Primary School was oversubscribed from the start and eventually the Council brought forward a restriction on the catchment area for Craigowl . 

Both examples call into question the reliability of the population projections that have informed decisions that the Council have made about replacing schools.  More worrying is that the same population projections have been used to justify the closure of Menzieshill High School this summer and the size of the proposed new primary school in Menzieshill. I think the new Children and Families' Committee (replacing the Education Committee) needs to be given the opportunity to discuss this at it's next meeting. 

We need to get it right for every child and avoid expensive mistakes like this.

Commenting on Proposed Closure of Menzieshill High School

It is very disappointing news that the SNP Administration of the Council are proposing to close Menzieshill High School as part of the Review of the School Estate. 

Pupils, parents and staff will be wondering why their secondary school has been allowed to wither on the vine as the school roll reduced over recent years. It was a missed opportunity that the catchment area of the school has not been extended to increase the potential pupil numbers. For example, the Western Gateway area is currently in the catchment area for Baldragon Academy when Menzieshill High School is much closer in distance.

There are many questions to be answered about this proposal with very flimsy details in the Education Committee Report.  It surely needs more than two brief paragraphs to justify the closure of one of our Secondary Schools?

Before the meeting of the Education Committee in ten days time, my Labour Group colleagues and I will want to consult with Head Teachers, parents and carers in the schools together with the relevant trade unions affected by the closure of Menzieshill High School and the other schools affected by the wider proposals in the Schools' Estate Review.