Aberdeenshire Council's closure plan for rural school rejected

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 13 Oct, 16:32 · Archive

A review panel has rejected Aberdeenshire Council's plan to close Tullynessle School, saying the nursery was not properly considered.

An independent School Closure Review Panel has rejected Aberdeenshire Council's plan to permanently close Tullynessle School and Nursery near Alford. The council approved the closure in April this year after the primary school's pupil roll dropped below eight pupils. However, the panel determined the council had failed to properly consider the nursery's status throughout the consultation process.

Parents have campaigned for two years to keep the nursery open, arguing it should be treated separately from the struggling primary school. They contended the procedure was 'undemocratic' because the nursery was not included in the decision-making process. The panel concluded that the school and nursery were interlinked and that early years provision should not have been 'invisible' to the consultation. It is understood 23 families had expressed interest in sending their children to the nursery for the current school year.

The panel stopped short of ordering a new nursery consultation or directing exactly what the council must do next, but asked the authority to revisit its plans. Aberdeenshire Council said it would assess its next steps following the decision. This is only the eighth proposal to be referred to the review panel since it was established in 2015.

How it is being reported

• Plan to shut Tullynessle School rejected by review panelAberdeenshire Council decided earlier this year to permanently close the mothballed primary and nursery.BBC North East Orkney And Shetland · 13 Oct, 16:14
• Tullynessle School: Hope for parents as council REFUSED permission to close rural primaryAn independent watchdog determined the proposal to close the school near Alford failed to consider the nursery.Press and Journal · 13 Oct, 09:10

In this story: Aberdeenshire Council · Tullynessle School and Nursery · School Closure Review Panel · Scottish Government · Alford

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