The Dance School of Scotland, attached to Knightswood Secondary School in Glasgow, was created to break down such barriers for gifted youngsters from all over the country. Its dance school and musical theatre courses are unique centres of excellence and have produced a steady stream of professional artists.
All they are required to bring to the school is their own talent. Attendance is free, including food and board at Dalrymple Hall, a residence in the West End owned by Glasgow University. The school’s website defines this accommodation as being for students who would find it impossible to travel from home. By definition, most of the students using the facility come from outwith the city.
Until now, it has been funded by a grant from the Scottish Government to Glasgow City Council. However, as The Herald reveals today, the current lease has ended and the university wishes to dispose of the building. The Scottish Government has declined to fund the construction of a residential block at the school and, in future, the council is proposing to offer accommodation only to youngsters who would find it impossible to travel to the school from home. It is able to do this because, under the terms of the concordat between local authorities and the SNP-led government, the grant for this purpose is no longer ring-fenced. The council, faced with making major economies next year as a result of the £500m shortfall in local authority funding, says it has higher priorities in the current financial climate.
It is not clear exactly where the axe will fall geographically, but some parents from the central belt have already made it clear that it will be no longer practicable for their children to attend the school. This will be devastating, not only for the youngsters directly affected but also others from these areas who will be denied the opportunity to attend in future. Indeed, as one parent
observes, the facility cannot claim to be a national school if pupils from some areas are effectively excluded.
This story epitomises the weakness of the concordat. In granting local authorities unparalleled flexibility to decide spending priorities, the government has denied itself the ability to pursue national policy priorities or support specific worthwhile projects, unless they are written into single outcome agreements, which appears not to be the case here. The Scottish Government is happy to boast of Scotland’s thriving cultural industries but seems unable properly to support important individual feeder mechanisms such as this one.
The Herald warned of the likely knock-on effect on frontline services of the combination of the concordat and the drive for economies. While Glasgow has shown the way in cutting its cloth by offering to share backroom functions with surrounding authorities (there are further welcome moves towards collaboration, as we also report today) there is a right and a wrong way to go about making every penny count. Billy Elliot triumphed over adversity. It would be a great pity if today’s talented young dancers were denied the opportunity to do the same.
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