Scottish Catholic Observer

Parents in Milngavie have this week made a final desperate plea to keep Catholic education alive in their town.

Today marks the end of East Dunbartonshire Council’s consultation on school improvement plans, which includes proposals to close Milngavie’s St Joseph’s Primary School and merge pupils—in a new building—with those attending St Andrew’s Primary School, in the neighbouring town of Bearsden.

The local authority’s plans have infuriated St Joseph’s parents, who believe the proposals represent a test case for the future of Catholic education in Scotland, and are fighting to maintain the existence of a Catholic primary school in their town.

The Catholic Church in Scotland has echoed the parents’ concerns, with a spokesman for Glasgow Archdiocese saying that the Church is ‘willing to engage positively with East Dunbartonshire Council on any proposal that retains a Catholic primary school in Milngavie.’

Shared campus solution?

One possibility highlighted by the archdiocese and parents is for St Joseph’s to form part of a shared campus site within the town.

“The archdiocese has made it very clear in its submission [to East Dunbartonshire Council] that it supports the retention of St Joseph’s as a free standing primary school in Milngavie,” the spokesman said. “This option is supported by parents, the Church and the wider community.

“The issue of a shared campus is one that has not been formally proposed by the council but we have agreed to shared campuses in other places as a last resort to preserve Catholic education in an area, under conditions which guarantee and protect the Catholic identity of the Catholic school in the shared campus.”

Parents of St Joseph’s, who marched in protest with pupils and concerned members of the school and local parish community on Saturday (above), have said that they hope Catholic education ‘will continue to flourish, not flounder’ in Milngavie.

“If the council removes a service that has statutory protection in law then where does it stop?” Laureen McIntyre, chairwoman of St Joseph’s parent council, asked. “Where would this leave legal protection for Catholic education? Where would this leave the Catholic presence in our community?

Council response

In a letter in this week’s SCO, representatives of East Dunbartonshire Council, including its leader, Rhondda Geekie, claim that ‘the methodology used by the council to calculate under-occupancy is sound and withstands scrutiny.’

“It is the same methodology used for every school in the authority,” the letter states.  “St Joseph’s and St Andrew’s are not the only schools where changes are being proposed. As part of the current proposals, four non-denominational schools and four denominational schools are in the same position.”

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—This story ran in full, with additional photographs, in the October 4 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.

PIC: PAUL McSHERRY