Dingwall MSP Kate Forbes welcomes new St Clements School consultation highlighting ‘it is critically important that the views of parents and pupils are taken into account’
Dingwall MSP Kate Forbes has welcomed the new St Clements School consultation highlighting that “it is critically important that the views of parents and pupils are taken into account”.
The issue of a new school is one of the greatest embarrassments to Highland Council which has failed to replace it in more than two decades.
That has left some of the region’s most vulnerable pupils in poor conditions which can sometimes cause negative reactions from kids placed high on the ASN matrix.
Parents have been campaigning for years for a new build and almost secured one when a site was bought in the west of the town but then the council changed tack.
The Highland Investment Programme demands shared facilities for new buildings and councillors opted to consult on a shared campus with a new Dingwall Primary.
Now Ms Forbes – who is also the Deputy First Minister – has welcomed the new consultation but underlined the importance of listening to parents and pupils.
She has campaigned for years for a new build schools once characterising the current building as “Dickensian.”
“St Clements is long overdue a new school,” she said. “The pupils, parents and teachers have had to put up with a building that isn’t suitable for too long. I am delighted to see the next steps in the process to build a new school.
“The teachers have done an exemplary job over many years, to educate children and young people with Additional Support Needs.
"The pupils at St Clements deserve an up-to-date facility, with vastly improved accessibility, and a purpose-built environment that places the needs of every child at the centre of the design.
"It is critically important that the views of parents and pupils are taken into account. I encourage everybody to take part.
“I hope that the council can progress as quickly as possible to a new school.”
That stance is in opposition to a number of councillors who not only totally ignored the wishes for parents to ensure a totally separate institution but also sought to reduce the role of the parent council in the consultation.
Parents have long felt that a separate school is vital for their kids’ well being because some have disorders that are made much worse by different factors including travel to noise.
But during the debate on whether to launch the consultation for St Clements Black Isle Councillor Sarah Atkin called into question the role of the parent council in the consultation.
“This is a win-win for the town,” Cllr Atkin claimed.
“This is why, and it is a personal view that will not go down in parts of the chamber, I just do not believe that any interest group or stakeholder should have a disproportionate amount of influence that could delay parts of this programme.
“I have said many times in this chamber that St Clement’s is not a Dingwall school – as well as Dingwall, pupils come from Evanton, Alness, Invergordon, Fearn, out past Beauly and from villages in my own ward of the Black Isle.
“There are so many benefits outlined in the paper to co-location – professional collaboration and educational flexibility in my opinion.
“My short spell working at St Clement’s taught me so much. There were many able children at the school because the focus was on what children can do rather than what they can’t – a mindset that I feel we have lost sight of in mainstream education.
“The flexibility that there would be for all children who can manage some mainstream learning and socialising because it already happens would be so much easier to organise”.
