Proposals and Consultation for Education Provision at Abernyte Primary School

Decision of Scottish Ministers and School Closure Review Panel

On 16 July 2019, the Scottish Government advised that Scottish Ministers had issued a call-in notice under Section 15 (3) of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.  This meant that Scottish Ministers referred the proposal to the Convener of the School Closure Review Panel.  Following a Judicial Review in the Court of Session, this matter was considered by the School Closure Review Panel.  On 28 July 2020, the School Closure Review Panel published its decision on Abernyte Primary School and refused consent to Perth & Kinross Council's proposal in respect of the closure Abernyte Primary School. 

Perth-and-Kinross-final-decision-28-July-2020.pdf (scrp.scot)

Notice of decision of Lifelong Learning Committee

The Lifelong Learning Committee considered the findings of the statutory consultation Report No 19/153 (PDF, 250 KB) and Appendix A (PDF, 3 MB) on 22 May 2019 and approved the implementation of the proposal to close Abernyte Primary School with effect from 1 July 2020 and was satisfied to do so for the reasons set out in the Report No 19/153 (PDF, 250 KB) and Appendix A (PDF, 3 MB) in accordance with Section 11A(3) of the Schools Consultation (Scotland) Act 2010, as amended

Notification and representation to Scottish Ministers

As a result of the Lifelong Learning Committee's final decision made on 22 May 2019 to approve the proposal to close Abernyte Primary School, the Council has informed Scottish Ministers of this decision in accordance with Section 15 (2) and 2(A) of the Schools Consultation (Scotland) Act 2010, as amended.

The legislation allows for any person to make representations either against or to support the closure to Scottish Ministers within three weeks of the Council taking their final decision to implement a closure proposal. Any representations to Scottish Ministers need to be with the Ministers within three weeks of this date. Therefore, any representations must be made to Scottish Ministers by midnight on Tuesday 11 June 2019.

Anyone wishing to make representation to Scottish Ministers during the three week period referred to above should do so by email to schoolclosure@gov.scot or in writing to:

The Scottish Government
School Infrastructure Unit
Area 2B (North)
Victoria Quay
EDINBURGH
EH6 6QQ

The Scottish Ministers have a period of eight weeks following an authority's decision in which to decide whether to call in the decision or not.

Further information is available by contacting:

The Schools Consultations Team
Tel: 01738 476218
Email: ECSStatutoryConsultations@pkc.gov.uk (please indicate Abernyte Primary School in the email subject header)

Publication of consultation report

The next stage of the consultation process is the publication of the report on the outcomes and findings of the Statutory Consultation. This Consultation Report (PDF, 3 MB) and Appendix (PDF, 2 MB) is published from Thursday 18 April 2019 until Friday 10 May 2019. This allows for a full three week review of the document prior to a final submission to the Lifelong Learning Committee on Wednesday 22 May 2019.

Proposals and consultation for education provision at Abernyte Primary School

The Lifelong Learning Committee on Wednesday 24 August 2016 approved Report No. 16/347 (PDF, 139 KB) which proposed a review of Perth & Kinross Council's School Estate. Further approval was given by the Lifelong Learning Committee on 2 November 2016 ( Report No. 16/485 (PDF, 1 MB) refers) to the development of a number of options appraisals, including for Abernyte Primary School.

Following this, Report No. 18/243 (PDF, 219 KB) was presented to the Lifelong Learning Committee on Wednesday 22 August 2018. This report presented an Options Appraisal (PDF, 986 KB) containing an Educational Benefits Statement regarding Abernyte Primary School. As a result, this Committee approved to prepare and publish an Proposal Paper (PDF, 4 MB) and commence formal consultation on the following proposals:

• provision of a school at Abernyte Primary School be permanently discontinued with effect from 1 July 2020, or as soon as possible thereafter;
• that the pupils of Abernyte Primary School catchment area permanently receive their education at Inchture Primary School from 2 July 2020, or as soon as possible thereafter; and
• that the delineated catchment area of Inchture Primary School be permanently extended to subsume the whole delineated catchment area of Abernyte Primary School from 2 July 2020.

Formal consultation

The consultation was undertaken in line with the requirements of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.

The consultation period ran from Monday 29 October 2018 until Friday 14 December 2018, which included a period of 33 school days.

A Public Notice (PDF, 246 KB) was placed in the local press.

Public meetings

Two public meetings were held to discuss the proposals, and the Proposal Paper (PDF, 4 MB). The meetings were an opportunity for interested parties to:

• Hear more about the proposals;
• Ask questions about the proposals; and
• Have their views recorded so that they could be taken into account as part of the consultation process.

Anyone wishing to attend was invited to do so.

The public meetings were held as follows:

A note of questions and views were taken at the meetings. The notes are published above and a printed copy will be made available upon request to the Schools Consultation Team.