Scottish community school bid dismissed

ATTEMPTS BY Catholic parents to save the autonomy of their local primary by converting it into a community-led school have been rebuffed by the local council, writes Brian Morton.

St Joseph’s Primary School in Milngavie faces closure because East Dunbartonshire Council said it was seriously under capa­city. The council wants to amalgamate it with another Catholic school, St Andrew’s Primary, in a new building in nearby Bearsden.

The vast majority of parents oppose the merger and support efforts to maintain a 140-year ­history of Catholic education in Milngavie, where St Joseph’s was founded in 1873, by running the school themselves, as the first community-led school in Scotland.

But the director for education and children’s services for East Dunbartonshire, Gordon Currie, said that no mechanism existed to do so.

“We have not had any approach from the parent council [of St Joseph’s] about proposals to run St Joseph’s as a ‘community-led’ school. However, it is our understanding that there is no mechanism in Scotland that we are aware of that would enable the school to be transferred to ­parent or community control,” said Mr Currie.

Currently only one school in Scotland, Jordanhill, is directly administered by the Scottish Government.

Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, told the Scottish parliament that she would meet the parents’ group from the school.