Council plans to close Connel's mothballed primary school

A Connel primary school is moving closer to closure – after 18 months being mothballed.

 

Councillors will be asked to give the green light to education officials to begin drawing up a draft closure proposal for Achaleven Primary.

 

The school, mothballed since August 2021, has been the subject of a consultation process on its future since August 2022, with four options on the table.

 

A community engagement meeting on the future of the school in December attracted only five people from three households.

 

It is now recommended that council chiefs are asked to undertake a draft closure proposal, which would be considered by councillors in August. If it is approved, another consultation process would begin.

 

A report concerning the school’s future will go before Argyll and Bute Council’s community services committee at its meeting on Thursday, March 9.

 

The document said: “A community engagement meeting was held in Achaleven Primary School, on December 1, 2022 from 1pm to 7pm.

 

"This was to seek the views of the community on the future of Achaleven School. This meeting was attended by five people from three households.

 

“There are currently no primary aged children in Lochnell Primary who previously attended Achaleven Primary, and there are currently two primary aged children in Dunbeg Primary who previously attended Achaleven Primary .

 

“The majority of the community were in agreement that the low numbers of children did not make the re-opening of the school realistic.

 

“There was a small percentage of people in support of continued mothballing in order to retain the building in case of future need.

 

“The majority of the community felt that it would be disappointing if the building lay empty and became derelict and were keen to explore other options for the building should the school close permanently.

 

“Parents of children with very young children expressed concern that the school may be closed but agreed this may be the best option when projected numbers were clarified.

 

“Staff members acknowledged that without a significant number of pupils, reopening the school is not viable.”

 

The report also quotes one respondent in the consultation as saying: “‘I don’t think I would send my children to Achaleven if there were only a few other children in the school.”

 

Another said: “Mothballing could be beneficial if there are a viable number of children due to start at Achaleven in the next few years, but it wouldn’t be good for the children if there were going to be very low numbers in classes and across the school.”

 

A pupil is also quoted as saying: “I was worried and optimistic. The old school was small. We are a lot happier at Dunbeg than we were at Achaleven.”