BY Ian Dunn | August 16 | 
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St Oswald’s Secondary set to close?
— Parents of pupils at Catholic special needs school express concern over potential closure
By Ian Dunn and Martin Dunlop
The potential closure of a Catholic school for special needs pupils in Glasgow is causing deep concern among parents.
Glasgow City Council is proposing to move St Oswald’s Additional Support for Learning (ASL) School in Cathcart into a shared building with St Margaret Mary’s Secondary in Castlemilk.
The council has opened a consultation into the proposal, under which St Oswald’s pupils would still be taught by their own specialist teachers but also have access to facilities in the mainstream school.
Glasgow Archdiocese is currently in the process of responding to the consultation on behalf of the Catholic Church and parents of pupils at St Oswald’s have raised concerns that their children may struggle to adapt to the new environment.
Moira Branston, whose son, Dylan Lawson, 13, is about to start his third year at St Oswald’s, spoke of her worries.
“Dylan has autism,” she said. “Thorough assessments have been done which show he struggles academically and socially. The move to St Margaret Mary’s is not to a school within a school, but classrooms allocated to St Oswald’s.”
James Dornan, SNP MSP for Cathcart, said he is also gravely concerned about the proposed closure of St Oswald’s.
“I have no issue with a shared campus, but I have concerns about a school for special educational needs being forced into a mainstream school,” he said.
Glasgow City Council said the proposed move would not take place until August 2014 and that they are happy to discuss the proposal with parents until then.
“There is no suggestion that children who do not have the capacity for this environment will have to move,” a spokeswoman for the council said. “Parents will have a choice and we will be working with the parents over the next year.”
The consultation is open until September 13 and the council has urged all parents to take part and submit their views.
—This story ran in full in the August 16 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes
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