Kilchrenan Primary future in community's hands

Councillors in Argyll and Bute are to be asked to keep Kilchrenan Primary School in mothballs – but to give the green light to a consultation on its future.

 

The school has been mothballed for a year, with its head teacher having retired in February 2022 and no replacement recruited.

 

The school currently has no registered pupils and none are due to start there in the 2023/24 term either, with those living in its catchment area attending school either in Taynuilt, more than six miles away, or in Oban.

 

All members of staff at Kilchrenan have either been relocated or accepted redundancy.

 

An enquiry was also initially made on using the school building as commercial office accommodation, but no further progress has been made.

 

A report on the prospects for the school will go before Argyll and Bute Council’s community services committee on Thursday March 9.

 

Council executive director Douglas Hendry said in the report: “Parents of children at Kilchrenan Primary School at this point reflected that they would rather their children be educated in a different setting.

 

“As a result there were no pupils remaining on the Kilchrenan roll. Other pupils resident in the catchment area were already attending school in Oban or Taynuilt.

 

“Registration for August 2023 enrolment at the school closed at the end of January, with no pupils registered. A small number of pupils registering would not in itself alter the viability of the school.

 

“The mothballing of a school is a temporary closure. It does not require a statutory consultation to be carried out as it is an informal non-statutory measure.

 

“It is appropriate where the authority considers that a school is not presently viable, but do not wish to close it immediately in order to assess the prospects of the number of pupils in the area increasing to the extent that the school should be re-opened in the future.”

 

Mr Hendry added: “In March 2022, the council’s education services received an enquiry from a local organisation with regard to whether the council would consider leasing Kilchrenan Primary School to them for use as a commercial office premises, at least while the school building had the status of being mothballed.

 

“This request has not been progressed any further by the enquirer to date, and no other actions have been taken with regard to leasing the school buildings to any third party.

 

“It is proposed that a preliminary assessment of options regarding the future of the school be undertaken by way of a preliminary consultation, in accordance with the preliminary requirements of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.

 

“The report to members on the preliminary consultation would take into account in its recommendations the likelihood of there being any pupils requiring educational provision at Kilchrenan Primary School in August 2023.

 

“The process would look to identify and assess the various options that are available regarding the future of Kilchrenan Primary School. Findings would be presented to the committee in August 2023.

 

“In the event of a sufficient number of school age pupils seeking to attend the school, the school may require to reopen at the next appropriate session. In this eventuality a further report would be brought before members.”