Strategic review of Highland school estate set to begin in Caithness
A report being presented to The Highland Council’s Education Culture and Sport Committee on Thursday 13 January proposes that the initial phase of the strategic review of the entire Council school estate should feature the Associated School Groupings for Wick High School and Thurso High School.
Highland Councillors are being recommended to begin the review by focusing on the 11 primary schools which feed into Wick High School and the 7 primary schools associated to Thurso High School.
The decision to embark on the strategic review of education provision – creating a sustainable school estate – was taken by the Council at its last meeting on 16 December, last year, when it was agreed the review will be conducted on an on-going basis over a significant period (likely to be a minimum of 5 years).
A review of the remaining 27 Associated School Groupings in Highland will follow over the next five years. Associated School Groupings comprise of the local Secondary School plus the feeder Primary Schools.
The report being presented to the ECS Committee recommends that, following a period of information gathering and discussion with local Head Teachers and local Elected Members, proposals for statutory consultations in relation to future educational provision at Wick High School ASG and Thurso High School ASG should be considered at the next Education Culture and Sport Committee meeting on Thursday 10 March. Thereafter a statutory consultation, lasting up to 6 months, will be conducted in accordance with the stringent requirements of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.
At the Education Culture and Sport Committee meeting in March proposals will also be submitted for the next group of Associated School Groupings to be considered within the review.
Caledonian Economics Limited (CEL) has been appointed as the external partner to work alongside a dedicated in-house team to take forward the review. CEL worked in partnership with the Council on the recent successful review of future education provision in the Greater Fort William area.
The 11 primary schools which feed into Wick High School are:
Bower; Canisbay; Dunbeath; Hillhead; Keiss; Lybster; North Wick; Pulteneytown; South; Thrumster and Watten.
The 7 primary schools which feed into Thurso High School are: Castletown; Crossroads; Halkirk; Miller Academy; Mount Pleasant; Pennyland and Reay.
Councillor Bill Fernie, Chairman of the Education Culture and Sport Committee, said: “The overall aim of this strategic review of the School Estate is to develop a school environment which will sustain and improve education provision, pupil performance and outcomes for young people in the Highlands.
“The Highland-wide review will be phased over a minimum of five years. We have just completed a pilot review in Greater Fort William and we will apply the same objective analytical approach in reviewing each of the associated school groups which feed into our network of secondary schools in the Highlands.
“The review takes account of the condition of schools, occupancy and location. We want to recommend changes that will ensure our pupils get the best possible education and the Council achieves the best value for the funds that are available to us.”
The report to be considered by the Committee on Thursday can be read here (142Kb pdf).