Shetland councillors have rejected plans to shut two small primary schools in Northmavine.
Members of the islands council’s education and families committee voted 7-4 to retain five-pupil North Roe primary and unanimously agreed to maintain a primary school and nursery in Urafirth.
Both moves went against the advice of the local authority’s children’s services department. It had recommended a merger involving the transfer of pupils from North Roe and Urafirth to Northmavine’s third primary school, in Ollaberry, from summer 2015.
The decision could still be overturned at a full council meeting today, but yesterday’s verdict will give parents who have protested vehemently against the closures strong hope that their schools will be saved.
A petition with more than 200 signatures was handed over to SIC convener Malcolm Bell by Urafirth parents on Monday, while written responses and the sentiment at public consultation meetings was overwhelmingly against the closures.
Committee chairwoman Vaila Wishart had moved in favour of shutting North Roe, but Shetland North councillor Andrea Manson’s amendment won out. When Ms Wishart then moved to retain Urafirth, Mrs Manson was “delighted” to second her.
Ms Wishart – along with SIC leader Gary Robinson – had argued that North Roe’s school had “gone beyond the point of no return”, with the pupil roll due to fall to five next year.
She argued pupils would benefit from a move to Ollaberry, where they could make more friends and interact with children of the same age. “There are benefits from children being educated together,” Ms Wishart said.
Council officials said they were “confident” that parents’ concerns about the travel distance from North Roe to Ollaberry could be overcome.
But Mrs Manson rejected that saying it was not possible to make the journey within 40 minutes. She said the school was “vital” and the only service the council provided to the area.
Those were the two reasons North Roe was spared the axe in 2011, and while the pupil roll is at a low ebb just now she referred to a “mini baby boom” in the area meaning the school is “set for numbers to double” before the decade is out.
Others pointed out that – aside from crofting – the school provided the only full time employment in North Roe.
Shetland South member Billy Fox said the notion of shutting a “first class” school at Urafirth would be “absolutely criminal” and a “real body blow” to the thriving Hillswick community.