School closures

[paulb]

Some people might equally be attracted to living on an island where there were no sprogs or no school to brainwash the kids!

bressay sounds like that kind of place. better not play pool there.

[hjasga]

that is a problem. some children are less suited to being boarded out. and if so why should they. the equality act comes into play. 

 

What? How?

[hairyian]

thinking of some of the learning disorders. for example autism spectrum disorders. they would fall within the act.

I know what falls within the Act, which is why I asked how it applied in this sitiation ?

[paulb]

if the child was say on an island that had no secondary provision. and due to the condition they could not board. the council would have to make provision or be in breach of the act.  

[hairyian]

if the child was say on an island that had no secondary provision. and due to the condition they could not board. the council would have to make provision or be in breach of the act.  

Nope - your using the wrong act.

[hjasga]

if the child was say on an island that had no secondary provision. and due to the condition they could not board. the council would have to make provision or be in breach of the act.  

This seems like nonsense, to me. If I had an autistic child I couldn't move to Oxna and then demand the council provided a school there for me.

 

Children with complex additional support needs would typically attend Gressy Loan anyway. In cases so severe that boarding could not happen there would have to special arrangements regardless of which catchment area the pupil lived in.

[trowie246]

I'm very confused about the Bressay school closure proposal.  Council policy is that they have to provide primary education in each of the Shetland Isles (where a school already exists).  So has council policy changed now?  What does this mean for our other remote isles?

It was obvious that many councillors would have preferred to moth ball Bressay primary but no, Helen Budge blinded them with technical mumbo jumbo as to why that could not happen.  Apparently it could not be moth balled because there are children still attending the school, so does that mean that if parents had effectively emptied the school then it could be moth balled?

 

In 2010 [MOD EDIT] almost had kittens because a family wanted to relocate to Papa Stour and they had primary age bairns.  I think it was going to cost somewhere in the region of £125,000 just to re-open it again.  As it happened the family never made the move.  But what happens now if a family move to Papa with school age bairns, what is council policy?

Edited October 3, 2013 by trout
removed name

[hjasga]

Bressay is a peculiar case. The consultation is going ahead after extensive discussions with the parents there; the simple fact is that there are almost twenty children on Bressay who could attend that school, and four who currently choose to go there. In my mind, it'd be a lot fairer on the majority if the school was not there and they had proper school transport provided to send children to Bell's Brae.

 

I'm not sure the personal mention of [MOD EDIT] is necessary, and it's also entirely unfounded. Mothballing was the preferred case of Children's Services but wasn't possible under government legislation. 

 

The "technical mumbo jumbo" is in fact perfectly simple: a school can only be mothballed if the school roll reaches zero, and the local authority is not allowed to place pressure on families to make that happen. From what I have heard, discussions took place with the two families still sending children to Bressay, and at least one of them was strongly opposed to moving.

Edited October 3, 2013 by trout
removed name

[papastour]

Just made the mistake of going  to Skerries from Lerwick by ferry today,( 2 Hour trip).Vomited up my Fort Fish and Chips meal because of the rough crossing. As my legs had gone numb, I was being thrown around the toilet area, I accidentally pressed the Alarm button, but nobody from the ferry crew came to see if I was ok. What a mess, my clothes saturated in a sick mess.

 

God help the children who have to do long journeys like that each week.( Bring some spare clothes)( Have a good meal before every journey, nothing worse than being sick on an empty stomach).

Perhaps the school will provide a good meal before you go on your journey home?

[Staney Dale]

My, who'd be a Skerries bairn? Not only are the locals terrifying the wits out of them about the evils they will face going off-island, but now folk are coming across from Papa Stour to do it too.

[MuckleJoannie]

In my day ( the 1960's) the solved the problem by only allowing isles bairns to go home in the holidays.

[papastour]

Must have been the swinging sweet 60s, when young adults wanted to be FREE 

[trowie246]

Bressay is a peculiar case. The consultation is going ahead after extensive discussions with the parents there; the simple fact is that there are almost twenty children on Bressay who could attend that school, and four who currently choose to go there. In my mind, it'd be a lot fairer on the majority if the school was not there and they had proper school transport provided to send children to Bell's Brae.

 

I'm not sure the personal mention of [MOD EDIT] is necessary, and it's also entirely unfounded. Mothballing was the preferred case of Children's Services but wasn't possible under government legislation. 

 

The "technical mumbo jumbo" is in fact perfectly simple: a school can only be mothballed if the school roll reaches zero, and the local authority is not allowed to place pressure on families to make that happen. From what I have heard, discussions took place with the two families still sending children to Bressay, and at least one of them was strongly opposed to moving.

 

 

You're missing the whole point of my comment.  What now is council policy of primary education in island communities?

 

Okay, I understand if one family has dug their heels in on this on the hope that the school does not close but the point is if the family had gone along with moving their bairns and the school was mothballed what then?  If a family moves to Papa with school age bairns then the school has to open, so in theory, if Bressay had been moth-balled then the families who had removed their bairns "changed their minds" ( or another family moved into the isle) and wanted them taught in Bressay does that mean the school would have had to re-open?  It makes no sense to me because there would then be no consistency in policy, if indeed the original SIC policy still stands.

 

As for the person's name being removed because it was deemed 'personal criticism' or whatever I think it's a pity that Shetlink no longer permits people to voice their own personal opinions especially  when I consider my comments to be very mild. I have had dealings with this person for 9 years and I know the way that they operate.

[papastour]

Do you like this song trowi?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK9XWyINMoA

 

Does the song reflect how you feel about this person of 9 years?

 

Or do you have another song in mind?

[hjasga]

 

Bressay is a peculiar case. The consultation is going ahead after extensive discussions with the parents there; the simple fact is that there are almost twenty children on Bressay who could attend that school, and four who currently choose to go there. In my mind, it'd be a lot fairer on the majority if the school was not there and they had proper school transport provided to send children to Bell's Brae.

 

I'm not sure the personal mention of [MOD EDIT] is necessary, and it's also entirely unfounded. Mothballing was the preferred case of Children's Services but wasn't possible under government legislation. 

 

The "technical mumbo jumbo" is in fact perfectly simple: a school can only be mothballed if the school roll reaches zero, and the local authority is not allowed to place pressure on families to make that happen. From what I have heard, discussions took place with the two families still sending children to Bressay, and at least one of them was strongly opposed to moving.

 

 

You're missing the whole point of my comment.  What now is council policy of primary education in island communities?

 

Okay, I understand if one family has dug their heels in on this on the hope that the school does not close but the point is if the family had gone along with moving their bairns and the school was mothballed what then?  If a family moves to Papa with school age bairns then the school has to open, so in theory, if Bressay had been moth-balled then the families who had removed their bairns "changed their minds" ( or another family moved into the isle) and wanted them taught in Bressay does that mean the school would have had to re-open?  It makes no sense to me because there would then be no consistency in policy, if indeed the original SIC policy still stands.

 

As for the person's name being removed because it was deemed 'personal criticism' or whatever I think it's a pity that Shetlink no longer permits people to voice their own personal opinions especially  when I consider my comments to be very mild. I have had dealings with this person for 9 years and I know the way that they operate.

 

 

I'm not sure I've "missed: anything from your post - I addressed the points I cared about one by one. For the mothballing argument - yes, if a family moved to Papa Stour and wanted their child(ren) educated there, the entire point of mothballing is that the council would look at possibly opening the school again. I'm not sure if there's any compulsion for that to happen, especially if it's only for an unfeasibly small number of pupils, but I think they'd certainly have to look at it. 

 

That there are in fact a fairly large number of children in Bressay makes that case more complicated, as I've already mentioned. I imagine if mothballing had been agreed upon any case to reopen the school would depend on demand on parents who had not already agreed to said mothballing. 

 

If you truly knew how said person "operates" I doubt you'd have spewed such nonsense about them simply doing their job within government legislation. You can give your views on the department without denigrating individuals.