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I was at the meeting too. Dozens of parents indicated that they would consider making a placement request for either Sandwick or Brae schools if Scalloway is closed. I have not yet met any parent who had a child go through both Scalloway and Lerwick schools, in recent years, who has not preferred Scalloway. These parents may well want to try the smaller Sandwick or Brae schools rather than AHS if Scalloway closes.

 

Other folk who don't have access to a car are concerned about the one hour and twenty minute bus journey from South end of Burra to Lerwick. I agree that these folk may be less likely to send their child to Sandwick or Brae.

 

But for both the above groups, Scalloway school met all their needs. Speaker after speaker described an exceptional quality of education and pastoral care in Scallway. The only reason the panel proposed for Scalloway's closure was a financial one, (and even that seemed rather tenuous.)

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A huge number of people there last night said they will not be sending thier children to AHS. I think the point being made by parents was they wanted thier children to have the same level of small group tuition, community spirit and excellent facilities thatis already present in Scalloway. The other schools mentioned can provide the same level of care and learning as Scalloway is providing something which will be lost in Anderson.

 

My child had problems settling in at Primary level and had some behavoiral issues at times, my child was worked with as an individual by teachers, ASN and support staff.

She has now made the transition in to secondary and has never been so happy and settled, she has a good relationship with all the teachers and pupils throughout the school and is a succesful learner, confident individual, responsible citizen and an effective contributor to the school and the local community - which are the main aims of curriculum for excellence. I know this will be lost if she were to be moved to the AHS, so i will be looking to keep Scalloway open and in the event of this not being possible I will not be sending her in to run the streets of Lerwick, my option will be to send her to Sandwick and as she has a right to an education this option should be made available by the education department.

 

There was excellent input from students already attending the AHS explaining how poor the social area's and dining provision is at AHS. The panel could not explain how our children would benefit educationally from moving to AHS and when the figures were broken down there was NO savings of any signifigance to be made.

 

None of the parents I spoke to feel we recieved any intelligent or reasonable answers last night. A huge panel of people with not a lot to say, an embarassing failure on the part of the council and education department.

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I really hope all the Councillors will DO THERE job and support the Scalloway and beyond folk whas bairns go to this school.

 

However I am not happy at all with Bill Mansons ever droll attitude.

 

Mr Manson seems to think he is running the show or is it the fact he likes causing trouble?

 

I have been at a few public meetings and again certainly not convinced that Mr Manson has anything worthwhile to add.

 

If there is one bad egg in the box who cannot be fresh with good comments then I wish to suggest that the bad egg remove himself from the SIC and let someone who cares for their community have that seat.

 

I am not here to bash Mr Manson with a personal vandetta but I hope other folk realise that his attitude is mostly droll and unhelpful. :x

 

The bairns simply cannot all go to Lerwick so why not look at sending toon bairns to Scalloway, Sandwick to ease overcrowding at AHS?

 

:evil:

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So how much do they think its goin to save them by closing the Scalloway School ?

 

According to page 20 this document they expect to save £890,956. How is not spelled out. The main cost is staff and at the meeting Helen Budge said that any new teachers were only getting 1 year contracts, so they could easily be let go if Scalloway shut. Additionally there is a good number of staff coming up to retirement age.

 

http://www.shetland.gov.uk/education/documents/ScallowayProposalPaper.pdf

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When the actual savings were broken down by one of the parents attending the savings didn't come to very much at all! That figure was just a number for the council to feed to the public in the hope they would just accept it.

 

And from what the council was saying with all the speil about Secondary 4,5,6 and the importance of vocational subjects for cuuriculum for excellence there is no point any of us parents encouraging this generation of children to become Teachers as there is not going to be any teaching jobs in Shetland for a long time.

 

This boils down to the new AHS and the muck up they made of the whole proposal, Scalloway closing was a by-proposal of the eventuality new AHS actually being built. They wasted that much money faffing about on that they had to try and make it look as though something within that proposal was actually completed.

They wasted millions already on the failures and as was quoted by a certain councillor when it was first put on the table about Scalloway closing and the argument against it - 'Well, we cant be seen to change our minds about everything' Thats what this is about foolish decisions previously made by those in the town hall. Our bairns will suffer.

 

Thats why we wont be sending them to AHS.

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The whole proposal has a very amaturish feel about it. Not one of the "facts" in it has stood examination.

Its about money pure and simple, they are after a cut that will, they hope, piss off the least number of people.

One thinks of the hayfield house legions of officals and the saying of "Turkeys in charge of the christmas menu" comes to mind.

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Its about money pure and simple, they are after a cut that will, they hope, piss off the least number of people.

 

Nail on the head. As stated by Bill Manson in the Services committee meeting that started this whole process, the reason they chose Scalloway (and Skerries) and not the other Junior Highs too was because the level of protest would be unmanageable. He said it himself.

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The idea of sending Scalloway bairns to Sandwick if the secondary dept closes is not so daft as it sounds. The time it takes to drive into AHS at peak time is probably about the same as that for the open road to Sandwick - 15-20 mins.

 

How much capacity does Sandwick have?

 

And Brae is a good option for bairns in Tingwall and Nesting. Brae goes up to 6 th year, so they would avoid a transition into the overcrowded AHS.

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Why not keep Scalloway, increase capacity there and in Sandwick and close the AHS?

 

If it makes sense to bus bairns to Lerwick can't it make sense to bus them to Lerwick. There is land available at both sites for extensions. Far better in some ways for all Shetland's pupils to know more about living in the o{by the way, do you realise I tried to swear here?}ry.

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Just a quick thought,

 

The kids being educated in Shetland today are the ones who will bear the brunt of this credit crunch and the economic down turn; when they become tax payers (not long now kids!).

 

Should'nt we see to it that they get the best education possible? It's not their generations fault the council has to tighten it's belt. :oops:

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