School Closures

[Todd]

Hi

I saw an article about the junior high schools closing on yell and Unst.

does anyone know how likely this is to happen? I also saw that Whalsay junior high is closing.

where would I find accurate info on the plans for this? 

many thanks

 

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/education/islanders-step-up-school-battle.23384415

[MuckleJoannie]

Skerries is being closed. The only other secondary closure being moved forward at the moment is Sandwick.

 

Ciontact info for the SIC schools department

 

http://www.shetland.gov.uk/education/schools_information.asp

[Todd]

thanks very much

[trowie246]

Here is a link showing the Blueprint for Education timeline from 2007 until now.

 

http://www.shetland.gov.uk/education/blueprintforeducation.asp

 

The consultation timeline link is at the bottom of the page.

 

Yell, Unst and Whalsay statutory consultations begin in August 2014.

[Skerriesinthewilderness]

Well done the people of Shetland for supporting the CURE protest.

 

Lets hope your voices will be heard as 99% of Skerries residents did not want the secondary school to close......

[paulb]

oh vaila is good. you have noticed that she has got closing schools back on the blueprint. very sneaky. with the views of the scottish ministers its very clear that there preferred option is similar to the us system of junior highs feeding to high schools, so years s1-3 at the local junior high followed by y4-6 at high schools. 

so really whats needed is the same jh as now with the possibly of a merged unst, yell and fetler high school based on yell close unst

jh with some video conferencing/ travelling to say brae for bressay

the start of s4 would be a sensible transfer point. maybe even merge the anderson with the collage. make it more collegiate. the above would save a fortune in transport and allow more choice of courses..

[trowie246]

They won't go for closure at both Sandwick and Aith JHS's because the new AHS isn't big enough.

 

They will go for closure of Sandwick though and S3 model for Aith,  this has already been hinted at.

 

IMHO transition at end of S3 is at the worst possible time.  Pre-lims are sat in November at AHS so if transition is at the normal time (after summer break) that would mean pupils would have to get used to a new school (with over 1000 pupils) and teachers and sit exams in 3 months time.  In reality pupils will have to move just after the spring break so before end of S3.

 

The problem is that although CfE is being sold as a two- part secondary education - broad general in S1-S3, then senior phase S4-S6, in reality this is not happening.  Pupils are still choosing their subjects in S2 and starting working towards National 5 exams in S3.

 

So JHS pupils joining AHS at end of S3 will be disadvantaged over pupils already at the AHS.

 

Also, S4 leavers may really struggle to engage with school and education if they have to move to a new school for their last year.

[JustMe]

There is another side to this.  Elements within the SIC are proposing to make it compulsory for kids from Whalsay and the North Isles to be removed from their homes at an age to be decided simply because they are lucky enough to live on an island.  From the kids point of view this might feel like punishment and the parents might well think that they have a choice of moving home or losing their kids.  Yes I know it happens in Fair Isle and Foula but here the council are saying the kids move from their school in their own area allegedly for a better education but also allegedly to cut the education budget. 

[trowie246]

@Justme,  I've read your post several times and I'm not exactly sure what your point is.

 

The bairns fae Foula and Fair Isle have never had a secondary school so folk know that when they settle there.  I know in Foula that it is not unusual for them to home school the bairns for at least S1 and maybe even S2 because they think it they are too young to be moving away from home and into the hostel.  We live in much bigger and more populated isles with about a 1000 folk in both Yell and Whalsay.  Historically we have had secondary education in the isles, now that is under threat.

 

I'm not sure if you asked an S5 pupil if they thought they were "lucky" to live on an isle, compared to mainland pupils.  They have to leave home and live in a hostel all week.  If they want a Saturday job chances are they won't be home at all. I know that there are bairns from Sandness and West Burrafirth who qualify for hostel places but I know that there are bairns from Sandness who choose to travel on the bus to school and back daily.  Our bairns don't have that choice.

 

Although I think what you are trying to say is that our bairns could be seen as getting preferential treatment over mainland bairns I think you will find that there is a reason for that.

[paulb]

its part of there plan to try and split the opposition to closing.

 

they first tried the school by school hit when that failed they tried to treat the isle children differently ie keeping yell open. because they had promised then adding unst into the schools to stay open.

 

they are now attacking the age range so some schools will eventually close as parents send there kinds to lerwick for a seamless education.

 

as that seems to be failing they are now after the isle schools. they will hit the easier targets first whalsay .seems to be an ideal target isolated from the other schools.

 

remember there goal is for all the jhs to be shut no matter what they say. they have to justify the new anderson high school. there shiny ego trip. the money they have wasted on that project would have covered there savings for a number of years. the real secret is that they have been over paying for education for years. if they were paying the same as the rest of scotland there would be no need to find cuts. 

 

remember its there poor management/ control of costs that has caused this problem. not the schools themselves.

[JustMe]

My point is that the SIC plans to takes kids away from home compulsorily and I think this is wrong.

[trowie246]

I agree Paulb, we should never lose sight of their ultimate goal to close all the JHS's in Shetland.  And BHS will be downgraded as well, first to S3 and then to P7.  I imagine there is every chance that the isles JHS's will close themselves because the level of education that our bairns will be left with will be so dire that parents will put in placing requests for AHS.

 

They only want one high school in Shetland and that's the new Anderson, which will most likely have to be extended.

[Wheelsup]

I think that the throwing out of the S1-S2 has opened the door wider for closure, although this may have been a foregone conclusion. Already I can see a degradation of the teaching coverage taking place, encouraging parents to out in placing requests. Anyway when is the election?

[Kavi Ugl]

Cllr Andrea Manson was a breath of fresh air on Radio Shetland last night.

 

She was at the march and when the point was put to her that the SIC just doesn't have the money anymore said that the SIC has plenty of money, it's just that "we're spending it on the wrong things".

 

Listen here from 16.50 and the money comment 17.28.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radioscotland/news/rs_good_evening_shetland/

 

She's right.

 

And as I said in another post the SIC machine(tiers of officals & paper shufflers) have sacrifised the front line to protect the machine.

 

Also, I don't care what Scotland is doing, I just want us to do what is best for Shetland.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Kavi Ugl

[trowie246]

^ ^ ^ It's also interesting that Andrea Manson said that they are still waiting on a report which will hopefully shed some light onto why secondary education is costing £3,000 per pupil more than other island authorities.  Gary Robinson has publicly stated that it is the JHS system which is costing money.  He must be very confident of that before he has said that but how can he be when councillors are still waiting on detailed information?

 

Our net expenditure is on a par with the Western Isles but we have less teachers than them so that does not explain Gary's theory which presumably is we need more teachers in the JHS model, therefore extra expense. We do have about 200 less pupils in secondary so our cost per pupil will be slightly higher.

 

Finally, I do understand that we need some sort of benchmark but it might be worth remembering that Shetland is not like either Orkney or the Western Isles but I personally compare us more closely geographically to the Western Isles, although I have read that all their isles are now connected by roads and causeways.