Parents at St Joseph's Primary School, in Milngavie, are involved in a fight that should matter to everyone who cares about Scottish education.
East Dunbartonshire Council no longer wants to deliver Catholic education in Milngavie, so the community is asking for the right to run our school ourselves. Our campaign is driven by parents and grandparents, friends and parishioners but no political party. We believe the issues we are trying to address are relevant to every community in Scotland.
Councils from Lockerbie to Lerwick are under pressure to cut costs and small schools are in the line of fire. Everyone recognises that, when you shut a rural school, you take away the focus of community life. The same is true of urban areas. When you close a school, long-term relationships and social connections are destroyed.
St Joseph's has been in Milngavie for 140 years and its closure would tear a hole in the fabric of our community.
Our local councillors believe that the shiny new building they are offering in Bearsden answers all their critics, even though nobody wants it. Their political preoccupation with new buildings means preventable upheaval and unnecessary expenditure. The result has been a growing clash between people and the system. After three years of being ignored, we decided that something had to change.
St Joseph's Parent Council is being assisted by the Hometown Education Learning Partnerships, an education charity set up by a group of philanthropic businessmen from South Lanarkshire to create an alternative education model. We want to explore the scope for a more progressive approach that engages and empowers communities to drive up standards.
Unlike England, where permission has been granted to allow state funded self-governing schools, there is no mechanism in Scotland for parents to opt out of council control. However, the success of Jordanhill School, in Glasgow, which is funded directly by the Scottish Government, shows that engaging communities can and does work in this country too.
Since we went public with our proposals for a community-led school in Milngavie, we have received messages of support from parent groups, community organisations and teachers across Scotland. We have met First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson. More than 130 people turned out for a public meeting in Milngavie, demonstrating that there is a clear appetite for change, and we have created a debate across the political spectrum.
This is just the beginning of the process and we are working on a detailed plan the Scottish Government can consider. However, we have a clear set of principles. We want St Joseph's to provide a caring and nurturing environment for every child, so there will be no fees and no academic selection. Funding would come directly from the Scottish Government, but the school would have the power to raise additional funds, which we could use to offer the children extra activities or broaden the scope of the curriculum. The headteacher would still be responsible for day-to-day decisions but there would be a school board with a co-operative style of management that is more community orientated and has the potential to draw on greater business acumen.
The key point is that, by drawing on the talents of everyone in Milngavie, we believe we can offer our children something much more valuable than a new building: the engagement of the whole community in their education. The debate has moved on from simply saving the school to a vision of education about improving attainment and the life chances of our pupils.
Across Scotland, there is a growing dissatisfaction with current educational models, their costs and associated outcomes. There is considerable scope for integration and new thinking around public spending on education. When we next meet the First Minister we will have something to put on the table that could give parents in towns and villages across Scotland the chance to take control of their own future.
We want to do the best for every child, not only the academic stars but also all our talented stars.
Paula Speirs, St Joseph's Parent Council
Bill Nicol, Director, Hometown Education Learning Partnerships
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