Save Scalloway School

[Para Handy]

Helen of Troy. The face that launched a thousand ships.

Helen Budge. The face that that sunk a thousand scholarships.

[Njugle]

Can we take the discussion on the merits of writing in dialect to the dedicated forum and leave this one on topic please. Thanks.

[stilldellin]

From ST :-

Mr Duncan – already an unpopular figure in the North Isles – once more referred to the positive impact resulting from closure of small primaries in the South Mainland in the late 1960s. He believes the current programme of closures does not go far enough and wants to see Cullivoe shut too, leaving Mid Yell to serve all of that island’s pupils.

 

Allison " Da Flea " Duncan said to be an ambassador for the elderly. Hmm, wonder what kind of title we can give him for the 4-5 year old school child in the North Isles.. ?

[trowie246]

It makes my blood boil when da flea brings up the schools in the sooth of Shetland. None of the schools for closure were more than 3 miles from the brand new purpose-built primary school, although I assume some of the pupils would have had to have travelled more than that to get to Dunrossness.

 

If Cullivoe school shut the bairns have to travel 12 miles to get to school in Mid Yell, some from up the road it is nearer 13 miles and if there are bairns coming from Gloup your talking about 15 miles.

[Ghostrider]

Greenflee may well enthuse about the "benefits" achieved by amalgamating the five Ness schools, he never went to the "new" one, so he can hardly speak from experience as a pupil, and I'm less than sure he was living in the area when the change occured, or for a period afterwards.

 

Some of us who expereinced both old and new schools (just) would be prepared to argue the point, with him or anyone else, that while there undoubtedly were certain benefits of the amalgamation across the board, there were also certain negatives across the board as well. All in all IMHO, one lot cancelled out the other lot, leaving an end result of "no change". It was simply a different and probably cheaper way of achieving an end that, while it was different, was on par with the one it replaced.

 

As regards distance, the Lighthouse and Maywick would have had to travel furthest, at a very rough guess the Lighthouse is probably around 7 - 7+ miles, Maywick around 6+.

[stilldellin]

^^ Trouble is this is whit can and is happening when some people listen to the fanatical ravings of a lunatic !.

[Marooned in Maywick]

None of the schools for closure were more than 3 miles from the brand new purpose-built primary school

 

Wrong.

[MuckleJoannie]

Look at the picture at the beginning of this article:

 

http://www.shetnews.co.uk/component/content/article/36-latest-new/556-almost-like-a-eurovision-song-contest.html

 

Behind the councillors there is a row of a dozen not badly paid officials. Not just from Hayfield, but also finance and legal services, probably others, I have no idea who they all are. Was there any need for them all to attend the entire 3.5 hour long meeting?

 

Anybody want to guess the hourly rate for that bench?

 

This is common for SIC meetings. The officials are there in case something comes up that requires some input from them, rather than holding up an item for clarification.

[crofter]

Look at the picture at the beginning of this article:

 

http://www.shetnews.co.uk/component/content/article/36-latest-new/556-almost-like-a-eurovision-song-contest.html

 

Behind the councillors there is a row of a dozen not badly paid officials. Not just from Hayfield, but also finance and legal services, probably others, I have no idea who they all are. Was there any need for them all to attend the entire 3.5 hour long meeting?

 

Anybody want to guess the hourly rate for that bench?

 

This is common for SIC meetings. The officials are there in case something comes up that requires some input from them, rather than holding up an item for clarification.

 

It might be worth investigating how often clarification is required. And it would be interesting to know how much this costs. Might be cheaper to give them all mobile phones, or just phone them at their desks if they were in an office working instead of sitting in the Town Hall doing nothing.

[shetlandpeat]

They are there because they have to be. It is part of the democratic process.

 

Maybe taking time to understand the way these systems work may help to see why we need them there. There would probably be representatives of dept involved and/or authors of reports.

 

You cannot, "call a friend". It is unprofessional.

 

The way councils work are set by national bodies.

 

Everyone had an opportunity to find out how our system works yet very few do.

 

Why are you moaning about some officers being at a meeting. The problem is the shutting of the school. Get with it.

[crofter]

 

Why are you moaning about some officers being at a meeting. The problem is the shutting of the school. Get with it.

 

If they did not pay them to sit there doing nothing, there would be plenty of money to keep the schools open.

[shetlandpeat]

I wrote that answer on a piece of paper, sealed it in an envelope before I pressed enter.

 

Can you give Figures please?

 

How about....

 

more folk taking part in the parish councils, lobbying and getting proactive.

 

20 parents it sez, are their only 10 - 20 children involved?

 

So, how would you ensure a fair system. Or do you want it only to happen in this case, many or those people are salaried, they would be paid the same if they were there or not.

 

Folk seem to have little idea.

 

Anyone can stand for council, yet you let the same old faces do it then you moan when it don't go your way.

It is sad that so many folk have given their all so as to let you not get involved.

 

There is probably a hard core of parents willing to take the fight to chambers, then there are the "anons" who stand on the sidelines thrusting their sharpened tooth picks into the battle, not really contributing, but doing enough to take away valuable time and being annoying

[Ghostrider]

^^ I agree with Crofter, in this day and age of video etc technology, there is no valid reason for staff to attend council meetings in person. A large screen monitor installed in the council chamber, and a computer with a webcam on every "official's" desk (I'm sure they all have that already), and the relevant officials put "on call", is all that's necessary.

 

They can effectively "sit in" on the relevant parts of the meeting, and/or be available to answer questions as necessary.

 

I don't get the "call a friend" reference. The people that would be called are the same ones that sit in on meetings at the moment, not some councillor going "Oh, hold up, I met a guy in the Thule that knows a guy who's expert on this, lemme call him, he'll tell us how it should be done....."

 

If national rules dictate things are done in the way they currently are and the council has no choice but comply, then its time to look at having the national rules changed, and bring them out of the age of Noah and the Ark.

 

Rules become nonsensical, obsolete, irrelevant, or just downright pointless with the passage of time and progress continually, the momentum to change and update them to be relevant to the present has to start somewhere.

[trowie246]

None of the schools for closure were more than 3 miles from the brand new purpose-built primary school

 

Wrong.

 

 

 

From The Shetland Times, Friday 25th March, 1959

 

A school inspector has suggested to Shetland Education Committee that they should consider combining Virkie/Quendale/Boddam schools into one new three-teacher school, sited probably at Virkie.

 

When the suggestion came before the committee on Monday night, a cautious attitude was adopted, and it was agreed in the first place to send a five-man deputation down to the Ness to meet the local education Sub-Committee to test local reaction.

 

The letter from Mr Dryburgh pointed out that Virkie, Quendale and Boddam schools lay within a circle of diameter about 3 1/2 miles. Since Levenwick and Bigton were not far distant there was unlikely to be a large hinterland.

 

The roll at Virkie was likely to continue a little above the one-teacher level.

Boddam might be slightly greater than that of Virkie. Neither school had a general purposes room, and both had sub-standard infant rooms. Dining at Boddam took place in the classroom, and there were no amenities for teachers at either school.

The roll at Quendale fluctuated greatly. At present the room was far too small for the numbers, and the second room was far too small to act as a general purposes room for free movement exercises. There was a dining room at Quendale, but no solid teacher’s room.

 

Mr Dryburgh had noted several different firms running service buses in the area, so transport was available.

 

He suggested careful examination of all the points which could be made by centralisation.

 

The total roll would be well within the three-teacher level; at present there were five teachers, three of whom received responsibility payments. There were two meals kitchens with staff, plus transport costs to deliver meals to Boddam.

 

Virkie would have to be planned as a two-teacher school, and it would cost only a few thousands more to make it a three-teacher school.

 

Against the saving would be extra transport costs and the wishes of the parents.

The separation of classes should lead to increased efficiency, especially when the classes were small.

 

If it was decided to centralise, Mr Dryburgh suggested that the new school be placed in a centre of population, not some isolated spot mathematically equidistant from Virkie, Quendale and Boddam. Virkie seemed to be the natural centre of population. If that was selected, care should be taken to keep it well clear of likely aeroplane paths.

 

The chairman said this was something that would require a good deal of consideration.

 

Mr R.A. Anderson said that the county architect had mentioned this possibility to him six months ago, when they were discussing new building projects. Mr Conway had advanced the theory from the point of view of the effectiveness of building a new school, rather than trying to take three other schools and spending a lot of money on them, and perhaps in the end not being quite satisfied.

 

At that time, Mr Anderson thought if they did anything like this, perhaps this was the one part of Shetland where it might be done with the agreement of the local people. The whole area seemed to be populated – there were no long stretches of uninhabited ground between one house and another, and one village and another. It was not difficult for a Yell man to regard it as one very complete parish where an arrangement of this kind could work profitably.

 

There would not be the feeling that the local people had been robbed of their school because the new school would still be comparatively near to the children involved.

 

Be that as it may, it was still a very difficult decision to make, and one that would have to be made in agreement with the local people. The first thing should be to have representatives of the Education Committee meet the local Education Sub-Committee, so that they could have a full discussion of facts and figures, and to get full agreement in the area. He would move accordingly.

 

Mr Tom Henderson said that seemed to imply the Education Committee had agreed in principle that this was a good thing.

 

Chairman: Oh no. This is the first I have heard of it.

 

Mr Henderson said he would most definitely object to that. All three schools named were not old dilapidated buildings. Quendale was brought up to a very good standard about 1946; there was a canteen and dining facilities there. Virkie fell somewhere in between the two. Boddam had a considerable amount of money spent on it last year. All three were of very good standard.

 

“Are we to condemn two of these buildings for the sake of centralising the whole thing at the most distant point of the population in the district?†he asked.

 

It was a fair distance from Vanlop to somewhere down in the Sumburgh area, especially when dealing with young children in wintry weather. This was a matter that wanted considerable thought.

 

The architect said the canteen and kitchen at Quendale were in a HORSA building, now in a very rough state. The only thing he disagreed with Mr Dryburgh about was the site – he thought it should be nearer Boddam than Virkie.

 

The director suggested the best thing to do would be to prepare a memorandum on the question, showing possible things for and against, and send a copy to the representatives of the local Education Sub-Committee and members of the Education Committee, if it was agreed there should be a joint meeting.

 

The committee decided this was the best method of approach, an appointed Messrs Ollason, R.A. Anderson, W. K Conochie, Tony Anderson, and R. B. Blance to meet the local Sub-Committee.

 

 

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Yes, sorry Marooned in Maywick, looks like the distance was 3 and a half miles according to this report in Times Past, the Shetland Times.

(Apologies for going off topic).

[shetlandpeat]

So the crux of this distraction is a national issue that no one will really take on. So, nothing can be done. But, they will still be paid the same salary, unless you are thinking of totally overhauling the national frameworks of pay and conditions.

I wonder how much that would cost, and wonder if it would ever happen to save a school in a place many may not of heard of.

I am all for having local schools, but folk need to get together on this. I wonder how many parents went to the school board meetings and AGMs.

Councils are being dictated too with huge cuts, on going year on year. This situation is exactly what GOV wants if their is any dispute, to blame the local Gov.

We were all in support of these actions, if you read other strings or threads, now it is cutting closer to the bone.

 

Well, the next step is for the parents to run the school themselves. It will take training, dedication and hard work. This can happen and has happened in the past.