Council responds to representations on future of Banavie ASN provision

The Highland Council is recommending that the dedicated Additional Support Needs facility at Banavie Primary School, near Fort William, is closed on a temporary – rather than a permanent – basis as the result of a statutory consultation exercise on the future of the facility which will have no pupils from August 2011.

Under the terms of the Schools (Consultation) Scotland Act 2010, The Highland Council is obliged to publish a consultation report which contains details of all feedback received from interested parties during the consultation period and the Council’s response to this feedback. This report has to be available 3 weeks in advance of recommendations being considered by the Education Culture & Sport Committee on Thursday 9 August. As a result, this consultation report is available from the home page of The Highland Council website Hard copies of the report will be available in Fort William Service Point and local community libraries in Fort William and Caol.

The consultation report recommends that until appropriate facilities are available in the new Primary Schools to be built in Fort William and Caol within the next 2 to 4 years the dedicated additional support needs facility at Banavie Primary School may be re-opened if required.

The permanent closure of the ASN facilities at Banavie Primary School will be proposed when the new primary schools planned for the Greater Fort William area open. A further statutory consultation will be carried out at that time.

Information surrounding the consultation is available here

Anyone wishing to provide comments on the consultation report should do so by Friday 5th August. Comments should be addressed to Rosemary Bridge, Acting Area ECS Manager, ESC Offices, Camaghael, Fort Wiiliam PH33 7NE