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Councillors to give go-ahead to overcrowding primary school consultation

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Moray councillors will; be urged today to set the ball rolling on schools rezoning – or risk being faced with an overcrowding crisis.

Local authority officials have warned that unless action is taken youngsters in Elgin may have to be bussed out of the town to go to lessons.

And they want elected members to back plans for a wide-ranging consultation on changing the catchment area for the town’s primaries.

A report prepared for Moray Council’s children and young people’s services committee by senior education adviser Paul Watson says four of Elgin’s six primaries – Bishopmill, East End, New Elgin and Seafield – will have exceeded their capacities by 2018.

Greenwards and West End are also being recommended for rezoning.

Councillors will also be asked to approve a full review of management structures within Moray secondary schools.

Councillor Anne Skene, chairwoman of the committee, said todays meeting would address two vital issues for education in Moray, which had to be tackled.

She said: “This meeting is crucially important because we are beginning to run out of time in terms of projected capacity for children in Elgin.

“We do have enough schools, but, the way the zones are done, we don’t have children going to the correct schools.

“Having said that, the south of Elgin is still expanding, and in the next few years, we will need a new school in south Elgin and probably a new school in north Elgin as well.

“Right now, we are facing the problem of fitting all our children into schools in the next two years.

“If we don’t do that, parents won’t be able to place their children in their zoned schools, and may have to transport children from Elgin to schools in neighbouring towns and villages, and that really is not acceptable.”

If approved, the public consultation would start on April 13 and continue until May 29.

A series of meetings would be held with parent councils, staff, trade unions and community groups.

Education Scotland would also be involved and prepare its own report on the rezoning proposals prior to council officers submitting a final document to the children and young people’s committee in December.

The consultation the committee is being asked to approve includes maps showing the current primary school zones in Elgin and redrawn zones which are being proposed. It also includes the postcodes attached to each school zone.

The proposals make provision for the building of a new primary school in the south of Elgin and another in the north.

The chairman of New Elgin Primary School Parent Council, James O’Connor, said last night that rezoning alone would not alleviate the problem.

Mr O’Connor said: “The rezoning plan sounds great if it is followed through, but the reality is there are major issues that are not going to be solved from rezoning.

“At this moment in time, most of the classroom sizes are at breaking point, which is causing teachers stress, leading to absences.

“The biggest problem is they can’t get teachers. There has to be a new school built within the timescales. It needs to be built and finished in three years, and, if this new school is built, how will they get teachers to come?”