Latest update
Published

On Tuesday 1 June 2021, the Education, Children and Young People Executive made the decision to permanently close Bothkennar Primary School.

This followed consideration of all responses received during a statutory consultation with parents, staff, pupils, the local community and other interested parties, in accordance with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010, earlier this year. Full details of the proposal, the response to this consultation and the associated report from Education Scotland can be viewed in the Consultation Report.

Bothkennar Primary School was temporarily closed (mothballed) in August 2019 after the school roll had fallen to 4 pupils having been declining over a number of years. Beancross Primary School became the catchment school for primary pupils living in this area and this will remain the case following the decision to permanently close the school.

86% of respondents to the consultation were in support of the proposal to close the school and the Education, Children and Young People Executive made the decision to close the school in line with the reasons stated in the Proposal Document.

Following the school's closure, the local community will have the opportunity to influence future use of the site/building during the community conversations that are now underway.

Following the Council’s decision to close the school, there is a requirement to notify Scottish Ministers. All stakeholders have a further opportunity to make representations to Scottish Ministers either in support or against the closure within 3 weeks of the Council’s decision (by Tuesday 22 June 2021). Scottish Ministers then have a further 5 weeks to decide whether to "call-in" the decision and refer to the School Closure Review Panel for further consideration. Further information on this process can be found on the Scottish Government Website.

Any further representations on the closure decision should be sent by email to schoolclosure@gov.scot or by post to:

The Scottish Government
School Infrastructure Unit
2A (South), Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ.

The deadline for further representations is 22 June 2021.