Roy Bridge Primary set to close for good after five years without students on site

By Garrett Stell

October 27 2022, 3:07 pm

Council officials cited years of steadily declining enrolment and a lack of interest from new families as reasons for closure. Image: Google Maps

Highland Council voted to close Roy Bridge Primary School after five years without students on site.

The decision came at Thursday’s meeting and is in line with a recommendation from the council’s education committee, which voted in September to close the school.

Council officials cited years of steadily declining enrolment and a lack of interest from new families as reasons for closure.

Following Thursday’s vote, Roy Bridge enters the final phase of its slow crawl towards shutting its door permanently. The Scottish Government will review the situation and must decide within eight weeks – by December 8 – whether to challenge the closure.

Anyone who wants to have a final say in the process has until November 17 to submit comments to the Scottish Government.

We also want to hear your stories about Roy Bridge, so get in touch with us at the email below to share your thoughts.

Long road to closure

Highland Council originally voted to temporarily close Roy Bridge in 2017, a process known as mothballing.

In the five years between then and now, no parents have come forward to request a place there.

But records show that the roll has been on the decline since at least 2008.

Students in the Roy Bridge catchment have been attending nearby Spean Bridge Primary since 2017.

In the council report on Roy Bridge, officers suggested that students have settled well at Spean Bridge and relocating them again in order to reopen Roy Bridge may cause more harm than good.

In fact, council records show that even before the school was mothballed, Roy Bridge parents were already “voting with their feet”: submitting requests for their children to attend Spean Bridge instead.