Save Scalloway School

[Trow87]

They said the SJHS bairns would benefit from meeting more bairns, can't see where hes getting that but if its true, does'nt that contradict keeping Skerries open.

 

yep - totally. as do the vast majority of the other reasons we've heard for shutting scalloway rather than skerries.

[Kavi Ugl]

My instinct says this was a bad decision to close SJHS. It will surely tear a bit chunk of Scallaway's heart out and I feel so sorry for the bairns who will now have to face the prospect of coming to the dreadful AHS.

 

I ken somebody who works at the AHS and they've told me that it's just chaos with appalling behaviour up there.

 

This is the same old game whereby the SIC/Councillors are sacrificing the actual communities of Shetland so they don't have to pay off their own over-inflated and over-paid ranks of staff.

[Peerie Trow]

The reasoning behind this decicion and the comparative merits/demerits of the proposed closure of the two schools in question must be independently assessed and scrutinised as a number of issues (including those relating to cost savings and educational benefit), thus far not addressed, have been raised by the Parent Council of SJH. PT

[wally jumblat]

A bit late, but how about this alternative idea ...

 

Instead of closing the secondary department at Scalloway and bussing 100+ pupils to the AHS each day, why not keep Scalloway open and bus 100+ pupils the other way, TO Scalloway.

 

A bold idea, maybe, (and clearly there would be many details to thrash out) but on the face of it there are many of benefits:

 

- Scalloway would stay open, which is what the community obviously wants, and would become more 'viable' in the long term (in terms of cost-per-pupil, and such like)

 

- The overcrowding problems at the AHS would be reduced, perhaps leading to improved comfort/morale/etc

 

- The transport costs are no higher than they are with the proposal that was voted through today

 

- It might even allow the SIC to spend a lot less on the new AHS, which wouldn't need to be so big.

 

Just an idea.

[GypsyScy]

Some of the frustrating comments today were one councillor claiming to be speaking for all of those who hadn't put forward any comment or opinion on the closure, he claimed something along the lines of the 80+% that had been in contact in favour of the school were in fact a minority and that those who had not put forward any contact should be seen as the majority...

Another slated Iris, Andrew and Betty for acting upon the interests of thier constiuencies rather than going with the interests of the council majority.

 

The mojority of the bairns here in Scalloway this evening are still stating that they do not want to go to AHS. A lot of them have conceeded that if they were moving to a brand new, purpose built school then it would be a different matter.

[number 7]

im jis wondering how you can fit a pint into a half pint glass ? - seemingly the councilers have the answer ! the ahs is already overcrowded ! perhaps some of the councilers should go back to school and learn how to count ! (thats if they've not closed them all first)

 

ITS ABOUT TIME THE COUNCIL HAD A SHAKE-UP , THEY WANT TO SAVE MONEY THEN LOOK AT THERE OWN JOBS FIRST , INSTEAD OF CREATING JOBS BELOW THEMSELF THAT INCREACES THERE OWN SALARY.

[ll]

A bit late, but how about this alternative idea ...

 

Instead of closing the secondary department at Scalloway and bussing 100+ pupils to the AHS each day, why not keep Scalloway open and bus 100+ pupils the other way, TO Scalloway.

 

A bold idea, maybe, (and clearly there would be many details to thrash out) but on the face of it there are many of benefits:

 

- Scalloway would stay open, which is what the community obviously wants, and would become more 'viable' in the long term (in terms of cost-per-pupil, and such like)

 

- The overcrowding problems at the AHS would be reduced, perhaps leading to improved comfort/morale/etc

 

- The transport costs are no higher than they are with the proposal that was voted through today

 

- It might even allow the SIC to spend a lot less on the new AHS, which wouldn't need to be so big.

 

Just an idea.

 

Would have thought it would made more sense to have teachers doing the moving round, rather than a whole class of pupils- even if this meant having to split their time between a few schools.

 

It would appear one of the main downfalls for the argument to keep the school open is the fact that nearly as many pupils who are in the catchment area for Scalloway are going to AHS.

[GypsyScy]

^And the reason they go to AHS is because Scalloway has been repeatedly under threat! It was pointed out today that each time that Scalloway has had a real threat the number of new starters in to the school drop dramatically

 

I know this from experience this year as my child went in to first year and the ones from other area's who didn't said it was because of the threat to the school.

[glipper]

huge mistake has been made here....absolutely massively huge, if the main reason for closing scallowa is a financial one.

 

If the reason is a financial one i wonder if the town hall mafia would be willing to admit the whole community of Shetland how much the Bressay bridge/tunnel that was never ever going to be has cost our community..??

maybe this is what Bill Manson and Gussie Angus(an ex Scalloway man whos family were educated in the Scalloway junior high school) are trying to claw back..??

[lerwicklad]

My instinct says this was a bad decision to close SJHS. It will surely tear a bit chunk of Scallaway's heart out and I feel so sorry for the bairns who will now have to face the prospect of coming to the dreadful AHS.

 

I ken somebody who works at the AHS and they've told me that it's just chaos with appalling behaviour up there.

 

This is the same old game whereby the SIC/Councillors are sacrificing the actual communities of Shetland so they don't have to pay off their own over-inflated and over-paid ranks of staff.

 

What is so god damn dreadful about the AHS ?? I went there for Five years. It was and STILL is a superb school.

[Ghostrider]

Gussie finally beginning to show his true colours then, I'm surprised he's held together the "Mr Nice Guy" act for so long. As the say, a leopard never changes its spots.

[Njugle]

I'm surprised he's held together the "Mr Nice Guy" act for so long.

When was that then?

 

I should of course say that we should avoid any personal attacks here.

 

A terrible day for Scalloway, the end result of a faux-consultation that could only profess to offer the absence of disbenefits educationally, and tenuous financial savings from the loss of a truly excellent, and proven to be so, school department. The use of emotive nonsense that to save Scalloway would "cost every bairn in Shetland £200 of education", or all-but remove the operational budget, are moot at best in an outcome that also includes the much deflected-from hub model that will cost all the children of shetland £3,000,000 by their own contrived measuring standard.

 

@lerwicklad. It is not fair to say there is anything wrong with the education provided at the AHS, and no-one should claim there is. It is just an entirely different school experience and one that, by the council's own standards, is not suitable, hence the need for a new building. Scalloway not only offers good educational standards and opportunities in a fantastic building, but cross-class interaction, continuity, community focused activities, tailored vocational links and a range of other things impossible in a larger, more distant school. That is what is to be lost. The Curriculum for Excellence incarnate.

Being a veteran of the AHS, I can speak highly of it, but I can't hold hand on heart and say I was better off there, holistically, than I would have been in Scalloway Secondary.

 

This is only the beginning though, the educational standard so proudly upheld in Shetland is set to fall, one motion at a time. I hope I am proved wrong in this.

Scalloway has been cherry-picked because of its proximity to Lerwick. A soft target, and a grand gesture in the eyes of the world. Consolidation of primary schools is next and then they will outline the failings in the JH model at the remaining JHs and make further changes. Rural Shetland will be undermined, waiting lists for town dwelling will grow and the schooling that has attracted so many families to remain, and many to relocate to, rural Shetland will no longer offer the same attraction.

Rural mainland Shetland is, of course, after all just a suburb of Lerwick, 40 mins drive tops, on a fine day. Education is about national standards not tailored solutions and Shetland is not unique, just another region of Scotland.

 

I wonder what Dodie-Willy Blance, A I Tulloch and the rest would have made of all this.

[Ghostrider]

^^ Well, okay, "nicer" (just) than the Gussie I recall crossing swords with many years ago.

[JustMe]

OK so lets see a campaign to get the Scottish Government to overturn this decision on the grounds that the AHS is currently not suitable to take 100+ extra pupils. And when the council elections come round again why not make it an election issue so voters throughout Shetland have a chance to vote out councillors who made this crazy decision.

[Earl Patrick]

Any benefits the council could have achieved for the Shetland children through the savings are now being pished down the drain by the Chief Executive and his new super department of consultants and spin doctors.

 

The SIC have shown Angus they have no confidence in his handling of education, despite being given a second chance after the AHS debacle.

 

If he has any self respect he will resign.

 

I suspect he has as as much respect for himself as the other councillors have, so he will stay. Grasping the last strands of power that he has. Ignored by his colleagues, still desperately plotting against Sandy along with his buddy Wills. I doubt Wills will let Angus pull his strings any longer.

 

What a public humiliation.