An Aberdeenshire woman, who stood up for her son’s special needs school, is confident that the future of the facility is now safe.
Joanne Jamieson launched her campaign to save St Andrew’s School in Inverurie after receiving a letter from Aberdeenshire Council – which suggested pupils could be relocated to a different facility.
Parents feared this would jeopardise their children’s education.
But Mrs Jamieson drafted a petition to safeguard the future of those with special needs in the Garioch community, garnering some 3,000 names in the process.
She has now handed the signatures across to Aberdeenshire Council’s head of education, Maria Walker, and said the local authority chief had reassured her on St Andrews School’s future.
The council insisted it had no plans to close St Andrew’s and that news has delighted the Inverurie woman, whose son Rory attends the Inverurie facility.
She added: “I was very pleased at how many people supported the petition. I presented it to Maria Walker and was really pleased with the discussion we had.
“I don’t think my petition forced them to do something they weren’t already doing. But it opened the doors for me to sit down and hear what they are saying.
“She was very supportive and confirmed that we were all on the same side. She didn’t want to see St Andrew’s closed, but said, with it being an old building, that something had to be done.
“They are hoping to dip into the resources of the new academy. It is going to be this all-singing, all-dancing hub for Inverurie.
“She said anything they are going to do is going to be based on the views of the parents and carers of the pupils who are going to the school.”
A spokeswoman for Aberdeenshire council explained: “There are no plans to close St Andrews school, this was about meeting with a parent who obviously had concerns and we were more than happy to speak with them.
“It is important that we take on the views of the community and continue to hold consultation events.”
Work on the new £54million Inverurie Community Campus is due to begin in 2018.
