Plans to revamp Peterhead’s under-pressure school network are expected to be given final approval tomorrow (THURS).
The proposed overhaul of catchment zones in the north-east’s has been in the pipeline for months.
Now members of Aberdeenshire Council’s education committee are expected to sign off a package of alterations to the catchment area map.
Tomorrow’s education committee meeting follows a lengthy public consultation and a discussion with Peterhead’s elected members.
Last month councillors from the Buchan town endorsed amended plans, and these will be presented to the education committee.
In a report to members, education boss Maria Walker says: “Officers within Education & Children’s Services have carefully considered all of the responses to the consultation and have made a recommendation in their report. The recommendation is that the Education, Learning and Leisure Committee should adopt proposals 2-11 in the consultation document but maintain the current boundary between Meethill and Burnhaven schools.”
There was significant opposition from parents to the redrawing of the boundary between Meethill and Burnhaven, for fears children would be forced to cross the town’s busy South Road thoroughfare.
The comprehensive proposals come after figures showed only two of the town’s 10 primary schools were inside their capacity range.
A dozen proposals were brought before the Buchan area committee in January and, after much discussion, councillors broadly backed the recommendations of officers.
The raft of changes will, if approved, come into effect from August. No child already at a school will be moved, the new zones will only apply to children starting school for the first time or moving into the area from outside Peterhead.