Parents celebrate as Largue School saved from chopping block

Parents and pupils at Largue School are celebrating after plans to mothball the premises were reversed by Aberdeenshire Council.

The school’s parent council described the news as a ‘very pleasant shock’, and is arranging a ceilidh to celebrate.

The Save Largue School campaign was set up after parents and teachers learned last month that the local authority would be mothballing the school.

While the council cited small pupil numbers, with the roll having fallen to eight, parents slammed the decision as ‘short-sighted’ with pupil numbers expected to more than double within the next five years.

Parents informed by letter of decision to keep Largue School open

Director of education Laurence Findlay informed parents of the council’s U-turn in a letter yesterday.

In it, he said the council recognises the importance and value of small rural schools. But he made the point that it can be difficult for pupils to make the transition from such small schools to secondary schools with 700 to 1,200 pupils.

He added: “Largue School has the lowest roll in Aberdeenshire. When a roll is very low (i.e. eight pupils or below) it is not educationally sustainable, or in the best interests of the children, particularly when the roll represents a small number of families.”

However, he noted that the school roll had just this month increased to 10 pupils.

“As a result, we have made the decision that Largue School will remain open.

“The school roll will continue to be monitored, and should the roll drop to eight or below during the 2023/24 academic year, the decision to mothball will be revisited.”

‘Happy tears’

Largue parent council chairwoman Paula McRitchie said her initial reaction was one of disbelief.

“I had to read the letter a few times to take it in, thinking ‘is this right?’. But then the head teacher confirmed it. There were more tears shed, but this time they were happy tears.”

She said campaigning efforts over the last month had taken their toll, with the positive outcome coming as a huge relief after weeks of uncertainty.

“There have been good days and bad days,” she said.

“We always hoped, and tried to keep a positive attitude, we were determined to fight it all the way.

“But there were bad days when we just didn’t know what the council would do.

“It’s been a pretty intense few weeks, pretty full-on. So it’s just a huge relief for all the parents, a real weight off our shoulders.”

‘Whatever the council’s reasons, we are delighted’

While not knowing with 100 per cent certainty the reason behind the council’s U-turn, Paula believes the Save Largue School campaign – which saw almost 1,300 people sign their petition – had an impact.

“I do think our campaign had an effect,” she said.

“The amount of support we received, the offers of help, people contacting us, the petition. You’re talking about 1,500 people. All that must have made an impact.

“In our opinion it was a bad, short-sighted decision by the council. So whatever their reasons were for overturning it, we are delighted.

“To say small classrooms have a detrimental effect on children, well, we’d argue that point all day long.”

She added: “We’d like to thank everybody for their support. As a celebration of the school and the decision, and also to thank everybody who helped, we’re organising a ceilidh in June which will be open to the public.”