A Perthshire parent council has appealed to Scottish Government ministers to call in the decision to close their rural school.
Perth and Kinross councillors narrowly voted in favour of axing Abernyte Primary School in May as part of the local authority’s school estates review.
Around 50 parents, pupils and village residents crammed into the council chambers to watch the decision being made, having arrived early to protest outside.
The school roll had increased by 60% whilst under review, with three boys joining the existing five girls who attended prior to the closure threat.
Following the closure decision, pupils looked set to start the next academic year at Inchture Primary School instead.
Now the group has formally asked Holyrood ministers to overturn the decision.
In the appeal, Abernyte Primary School parent vouncil said its members believe “the process followed by Perth and Kinross Council does not meet the requirements of the Schools Consultation Scotland Act in a number of areas.”
During the meeting at which the closure decision was made, there was some debate as to how many children would be attending after the summer, with parents arguing the figure would be higher than the council’s projections.
Parent council chairman Gerard McGoldrick had provided a list of names of children whose parents had pledged to enrol them if the closure threat was lifted, but they had not formally notified the council.
The report also outlines what the authors believe to be lack of consideration of reasonable alternatives and lack of steps taken to address the falling school roll.
Mr McGoldrick has also highlighted what he believes to be inaccuracies in the council’s report.
Now, he is “very confident and hopeful” that the Scottish Government will call in the decision.
He said: “We submitted the request last week. There had been a few of us working on it and we sent in a 16,000 word document with all the details.
“We’ve been working on it since the decision was made and spent many hours pulling together.
“It’s clear that the council has been very narrow minded and we’re very confident and hopeful that the Scottish Government will make the right decision.”
The Scottish Government confirmed it is “reviewing” the council’s plans and the parents’ concerns.
