Shetland primary mothballed after last pupil leaves

Shetland Islands Council approved a decision to mothball Fetlar Primary School now that the roll has fallen to zero.

The decision came during a meeting of the council’s education and families committee on Monday.

The school roll was at one pupil as of April 2022, but that pupil moved on in May.

Mothballing the school gives the option to reopen it if there is a new need for education on the island.

But local officials say they don’t expect things to change any time soon.

Mothballed Fetlar Primary: No pupils in the foreseeable future

Mothballing is the term for temporarily closing a school when the roll hits zero.

In the runup to Monday’s meeting, the chair of the Fetlar Community Council told the committee that they don’t anticipate needing school education on the island in the near future.

Council records show that there are no children expected to enrol at the start of the 2022/2023 school year. The school had until now shared a headteacher with Baltasound on the neighbouring island to the north.

Fetlar Primary has been mothballed in the past. It joins Skerries and Papa Stour Primary Schools as the three Shetland schools that are currently mothballed.

Population causing headaches in education

Council records also show that there are 16 out of 30 island schools are currently below 50% capacity, not including the three currently mothballed schools.

The council has struggled to recruit teachers and headteachers to the islands in recent years.

The council had to advertise multiple times to fill leadership positions at Ollaberry, Fair Isle and Cunningsburgh Primary Schools.

And the council recently launched an appeal to retired teachers to step in to help fill vacancies.

According to Teach in Scotland, 38% of Scotland’s schools are classified as rural, meaning they have less than 3,000 people in their catchment area.

Many of these schools are in the north, north east, and the islands.

Read more from the Schools & Family team

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‘We just want what’s best for our children’: Why is it so hard to recruit teachers to our islands?

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