Mark is strongly supporting campaigns to fight the closure of Fort and Royston Primary Schools by the SNP/Lib Dem City Council.

He has just made submissions to the Council’s department of Children and Families which make clear his opposition to the planned closures.

Fort would merge with Trinity Primary School under the plan and pupils from Royston would move to Forthview and Granton. As a result, class sizes at the Trinity, Forthview and Granton will inevitably rise.

This is at a time when Edinburgh already has the second highest class sizes in all of Scotland’s 32 local authorities. It is not surprising that parents at Trinity, for instance, have made clear that they are opposed to the merger with Fort as well.

The council says that numbers at Fort and Royston are too low to be viable but small schools have a lot of advantages to offer in particular when it comes to pupils with special needs.

Both schools have made very marked progress over the last year so from this being a question of closing failing schools, the Council is actually seeking to shut two schools that are succeeding in providing a good education to the local community.

Much of Edinburgh’s population growth over the next few years is projected to be in North Edinburgh so this seems a very short-sighted move on the part of the council.

Furthermore, the Fort building is simply to be mothballed and in the current economic climate it is likely to prove difficult to sell off Royston. The cost of safeguarding the buildings from vandalism and theft is likely to run to thousands of pounds which means that there are unlikely to be any significant financial savings.

All in all, the closure of Fort and Royston makes neither educational or financial sense. Mark has spoken at several meetings to support parents and staff campaigning against the Council’s plan. Each time people’s strength of feeling of their local school was impressive. The final decision will be made at a Council meeting on 17 December and hopefully the Council will be prepared to listen to the powerful case against closure.

For more information on the Fort campaign visit the website by clicking the picture below.