PARENTS WITH CHILDREN attending a Moray primary school will argue that improvements put in place could be lost if Moray Council press on with their plans to ‘split’ the school.
Two major consultation meetings will be held this week regarding the future plans for East End Primary school in Elgin and the building of a new primary school at Linkwood.
If actioned proposals from Moray Council would see the current East End Primary effectively split into two schools, each with their own staff – a ‘temporary’ solution that the local authority admit would very likely be in place at least until 2018.
However, parents and the school’s Parent Council are unhappy at the temporary arrangements, which they say will have a “negative effect” on the school which has been making good progress in recovering from an adverse report by school inspectors.
A spokeswoman for the school’s Parent Council said: “The proposal by Moray Council is really negative for East End – especially when the school is recovering from a poor inspection.
“The Parent Council are very angry with the timing of the Council’s proposal, timing of Public Meetings and the negative effect it will obviously have on the school. We have all been fighting to support and help make improvements and this just feels like a huge setback – a knife in the back really.
“Some parents received letters from HMIE in the last week of school, advising that Inspectors are coming back the week beginning Monday, January 11 – so we are very worried. We are hoping our follow up inspection will be as good as Mosstodloch Primary earlier this year, but we do have worries mainly because of the severe staffing shortages.
“I think all parents can see that the school has improved since Mrs McIntosh became our permanent Head Teacher. She was previously at Andersons and had a fantastic Inspection there, but we know she has a huge task in turning the school around.
“She has been faced with the additional difficulties of having to deal with severe staff shortages. The Inspection was November 2014 and up until the summer break 2015 she was pretty much having to be classroom based every day – so she has a huge battle.
“Also, although we do now have a Deputy Head Teacher, she has also only recently in the last couple of months been able to carry out the duties of her role, again due to the staffing difficulties.
“With all of that in mind, it is just incredible that the Council are making us go through this process.”
Parents will express their concerns at two public meetings in Elgin Town Hall on Wednesday, the first being held from 2pm and the second from 6.30pm. The Parent Council are urging as many parents as possible to attend one of these meetings.