A last ditch appeal to save Blairingone Primary School has been launched by the community council, which has fears over the last public building in the village disappearing.
The future of the school will be decided at the end of the month by Perth and Kinross Council’s lifelong learning committee and the pupils could spend their final term in the school after the upcoming Easter holidays.
The final consultation report on the school has been published by the local authority and recommends permanent closure this summer.
Five pupils currently attend the one-teacher school, and should the decision be made to axe the building, they will all restart after the summer at Fossoway Primary school in Drum, just under five miles away.
Fossoway and District Community Council have no qualms about moving the children, but are afraid of the consequences of leaving the village with no community building.
Chairwoman Trudy Duffy-Wigman said: “Fossoway Primary School would be very good for the kids, should Blairingone close. It has an excellent educational record and I know they will help the pupils integrate.
“It would be very sad, though, if the school was to close. We believe that that is still and ‘if’ and not a ‘when’.
“Blairingone is a very small community and this is the last community asset. Both the village pub and shop have closed in the last two decades.
“Quite a few parents choose to send their kids to other schools, like Fossoway or Dollar, but the school is the focal point of the community.
“It’s clear the community want to keep the school open. We will probably make a deputation at the meeting.”
In 2017, the community council carried out a community engagement exercise in relation to the school, and believes that closing the school would worsen the division within the village.
Trudy added: “One of the interesting things that came back, was that everybody either said there was a very strong sense of community or no sense of community at all. This is clearly already a divided community.”
It is understood that, should the building close, a community asset transfer may be possible to leave the building in public hands, providing a committee is put together to do so.
A council spokesperson said: “Perth and Kinross Council undertook statutory consultation in 2018 regarding a proposal to close Blairingone Primary School and relocate its catchment area within that of Fossoway Primary School with effect from 28 June 2019.
“Under the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010, local authorities are required to make the report covering the outcome of that consultation public for at least three weeks before any formal decisions are taken on school closure proposals.
“This report will be considered at the forthcoming meeting of the lifelong learning committee on March 27.”
