Partners in learning
Budget
Proposed Fort Closure
14/06/2009 20:36
Like all parents, we were surprised to receive a letter last week about plans to close Fort Primary School and for all pupils to be offered a place at Trinity. Details of the proposal are available at the Council website.
This has not come as a complete surprise as it has previously been proposed that Fort and Trinity should merge and Fort has been under capacity for some time. The previous proposal for a merger was dismissed as without any merit and there is a long history of the council proposing school closures and mergers in this area.
The council’s proposal is that they want to remove surplus capacity from the school estate to provide best value for money by closing those schools where the current role is significantly under the notional capacity and making savings by the sale of the land. They acknowledge that the school population will start to grow again in the future but that there will be pockets where there are too many school places.
It’s important to highlight that this is not the case with the proposed Trinity/Fort merger. The council’s own report anticipates that the school population in this area will grow by as many as 150 places due to developments in the harbour area and it is proposed that Fort is re-opened to accommodate this growth. This means there will be no capital raised from sale of the land and probably costs involved to convert the building to a Children and Families area office in north Edinburgh as proposed.
What would be the impact on Trinity?
It is proposed that all the children currently at the Fort will be offered a place at Trinity. This means that Trinity’s roll would increase from around 337 at present to around 438 on current numbers. Trinity’s notional capacity, on the Council’s own figures, has been 415 for a large number of years. In the Council’s recent paper on the closure, this has jumped up to 456, providing a further 41 notional “spaces” at Trinity.
How has this been achieved?
This would lead to Increasing class sizes to their maximum in most or all year groups including even larger classes with team teaching. Using the council’s own figures from 2008, if this proposal goes ahead Trinity will become the most overcrowded school in Edinburgh.
The newsletter also highlights a number of other potential areas that would be affected in addition to the level of overcrowding.
What can you do?
You will receive a newsletter containing more detail about this proposal from the parent council this week. Please make other parents aware that this is coming out (we would love it if everyone read this blog and subscribed to the mailing list but this isn’t the case) and take the time to read it.
This has not come as a complete surprise as it has previously been proposed that Fort and Trinity should merge and Fort has been under capacity for some time. The previous proposal for a merger was dismissed as without any merit and there is a long history of the council proposing school closures and mergers in this area.
The council’s proposal is that they want to remove surplus capacity from the school estate to provide best value for money by closing those schools where the current role is significantly under the notional capacity and making savings by the sale of the land. They acknowledge that the school population will start to grow again in the future but that there will be pockets where there are too many school places.
It’s important to highlight that this is not the case with the proposed Trinity/Fort merger. The council’s own report anticipates that the school population in this area will grow by as many as 150 places due to developments in the harbour area and it is proposed that Fort is re-opened to accommodate this growth. This means there will be no capital raised from sale of the land and probably costs involved to convert the building to a Children and Families area office in north Edinburgh as proposed.
What would be the impact on Trinity?
It is proposed that all the children currently at the Fort will be offered a place at Trinity. This means that Trinity’s roll would increase from around 337 at present to around 438 on current numbers. Trinity’s notional capacity, on the Council’s own figures, has been 415 for a large number of years. In the Council’s recent paper on the closure, this has jumped up to 456, providing a further 41 notional “spaces” at Trinity.
How has this been achieved?
- The Council has, while carrying out a survey for energy performance, reassessed Trinity and, without advising the school or Parent Council, decided that it can now accommodate 15 classrooms, rather than the previous 14 rooms
- This may mean losing the science room, support for learning room and current library and IT suite or the possibility of children being taught in temporary accommodation such as Portakabins.
- How has this been achieved with no investment at the school when both Trinity's and Fort's roll have increased since 2008.
This would lead to Increasing class sizes to their maximum in most or all year groups including even larger classes with team teaching. Using the council’s own figures from 2008, if this proposal goes ahead Trinity will become the most overcrowded school in Edinburgh.
The newsletter also highlights a number of other potential areas that would be affected in addition to the level of overcrowding.
What can you do?
You will receive a newsletter containing more detail about this proposal from the parent council this week. Please make other parents aware that this is coming out (we would love it if everyone read this blog and subscribed to the mailing list but this isn’t the case) and take the time to read it.
- There is a survey included in the newsletter to get feedback on this proposal. Please complete this and send it back to the Parent Council ℅ the school office. It you oppose this proposal it’s really important that we hear back from you.
- Please email or write to the local councillors and MPs. Contact details are available on the downloads page.
- Contact the parent council to let us have your views. A big response from parents would itself be a good message to send to Edinburgh Council.