Only 12 children have been enrolled at a new £12million school in Elgin – despite spiralling class sizes across the town.
Plans for the primary in the Linkwood area were backed amid claims the need for extra classroom space had become “desperate”.
There are 52 children eligible to attend the new school – and council leaders have been left baffled by the lack of interest.
Parents with youngsters at Elgin’s East End Primary claim divisive plans to teach the children zoned for the new school there while it is under construction are to blame for the low number of enrolments.
But deputy chairman of the council’s children and young people’s services committee, George Alexander, claimed East End parents had deterred others from registering their children at the new school.
Councillors have agreed to spend millions on the primary in the south of Elgin to tackle a looming capacity crisis at nearby schools.
Construction work is expected to start soon, and the building should open in summer 2018.
Rooms at East End which previously housed the town’s heritage centre are now being refurbished at a cost of £780,000 so that they can be used as teaching space from August.
Local authority officers anticipated a high pupil intake at the new school, which will have space for 150 pupils.
They suggested parents would be keen to enrol their youngsters as they would be excited about being the first families to send their children to the new school.
However, the scheme was angrily opposed by a group of East End Primary School parents.
They said having to split gym, playground and canteen facilities between two sets of children would be a logistical nightmare.
Mr Alexander said those parents had created an unwelcoming atmosphere at East End.
He described their campaign to ensure East End remained purely for the use of their own youngsters as betraying a “snobbish” attitude.
Mr Alexander said: “It could be that snobbery is alive and well in Elgin, and maybe that has dissuaded parents from sending their children to the new school at East End.
“We did expect a larger number than 12 to be going there.
“Parents have obviously made a choice to put their children to an out-of-zone school, instead of East End.”
Mr Alexander said the council would now work on persuading parents with children in the new school’s catchment area to enrol them there.
He said: “Those 40 children will be spread across other schools throughout Elgin, and they must only just be able to fit them in.
“But that will create a problem for future years.
“I believe it would be wise for parents in that catchment area to send their children to learn at East End for the first two or three years until the new school is built.”
East End parents say the low uptake numbers prove their reservations about the scheme were well-founded.
They said that as early as February, letters were being sent to parents in the south of Elgin to persuade them to place their children at the new school.
One mum said: “It seems that many have been put off registering their children at East End due to the prospect of two schools sharing facilities.”
Another mother described the enrolment figures as “shocking”.
She added: “We raised a lot of concerns with the council about this and were made to feel we were being unreasonable – but this is proof we weren’t.
“It feels like the council was determined to go ahead with this plan regardless, it’s those 12 children I feel sorry for as they won’t have a proper school experience.”
The space that is being created at East End Primary School will be used as classrooms for its increasing pupil roll after the new school is built.