Catholic primary school is ‘judged negatively’ by the community, meeting told

When members of Scottish Borders Council’s Education Sub-Committee met on Tuesday, October 29, they considered a positive Education Scotland report on Halyrude Primary School.

Inspectors found friendly, articulate children who are proud of their school and who participate very well in learning.

Amid the positivity, Halyrude Parent Council chair Jo Dube raised a particular issue that she believes needs to be addressed – the perception in the local community around the lower take-up in P1 compared to other local schools.

She said: “I would like to draw the council’s attention to an issue which I believe places Halyrude at a slightly unusual disadvantage.

“Because we are a catchment school only for Catholic pupils, Halyrude needs to be chosen by families, which means there is a lower P1 intake, which could be because of a lower birth rate or all sorts of outside reasons.

“As a result it is judged negatively in the local community with Halyrude seen as being lesser if we have a smaller P1, when for other schools it is not an issue at all. The other schools in Peebles are not judged if their classrooms are smaller.”

Committee chair Councillor Julie Pirone described the school as “small but mighty”, adding: “I know that it is difficult because you are the Catholic school to be the school of choice.

“Because it is in Peebles people forget that it covers the full Tweeddale area and that maybe we just need to have a little bit of focus on that because everybody does get concerned, rightly or wrongly, about school roll numbers.”

In response, Lesley Munro, SBC’s director of Education and Children’s Services, added: “I think the year group intake is one measure but obviously teacher numbers and class sizes tend not to be based on year group when schools are small.

“I do think there is some confusion with parents between class size and year group size and that’s something we can do some work on.

“A small school does not necessarily mean a smaller class.”