Consultation on the proposal to permanently close Blackness Primary School

Blackness Primary School consultation update – 16th December 2024

In September 2024, Falkirk Council’s Executive (including Education) agreed that a consultation with all stakeholders be undertaken on the proposal to close Blackness Primary School and realign its catchment area to Grange Primary School.

Falkirk Council has undertaken this consultation seeking views on the proposal, under the terms of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 as amended. The Consultation Report can be viewed here:

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Consultation Report
PDF file, 482.4 KB
Appendix 1 Proposal Document
PDF file, 837.6 KB
Appendix 2 Consultation notice
PDF file, 145.1 KB
Appendix 3 Responses from Pupils
PDF file, 195.9 KB
Appendix 4 Responses from Organisations
PDF file, 87.7 KB
Appendix 5 Responses from Staff
PDF file, 134.3 KB
Appendix 6 Public Meetings Minutes
PDF file, 373.8 KB
Appendix 7 Presentation Slides
PDF file, 1.1 MB
Appendix 8 Online Survey Responses
PDF file, 507.5 KB
Appendix 9 Education Scotland Report
PDF file, 139.7 KB
Appendix 10 Letters Received
PDF file, 300.3 KB
Appendix 11 Blackness Primary School Pupils Focus Groups
PDF file, 102.2 KB

A decision on this proposal will be made by Falkirk Council’s Executive on the 13th February 2025. An update on the decision made in regard to this proposal will be made available here.

On 12 September 2024, the Executive agreed to consult on a proposal for the permanent closure of Blackness Primary School and the rezoning of its catchment area to Grange Primary School from August 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Following the informal mothballing consultation exercise in 2022, it was agreed by the Education, Children and Young People Executive on 31 January 2023, the school should not be mothballed and the school rolls be monitored. The school roll at Blackness Primary School has declined to very low levels in recent years. The catchment roll has remained low and is projected to continue.

Before any final decision can be taken on a permanent school closure proposal, a formal consultation is required in accordance with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.

Consultation

The purpose of this formal consultation is to gather the views of those who would be immediately affected by the closure of the school and report back to the Education, Children and Young People Executive at the end of the year before a decision can be made.

The consultation will run from Monday 16 September 2024 to Friday 08 November 2024.

Submit your views via Participate+

Public meetings

In-person meeting

  • 01 October 2024 at 18:30
    An in-person public meeting will be held at Blackness Primary School/Community Hall on Tuesday 01 October 2024 at 18:30.

Online meeting

  • 10 October 2024 at 18:30
    An online meeting will be held on Thursday 10 October 2024 at 6:30pm via MS Teams*.

If you would like to participate in the public online meeting, please email and tell us in what capacity you are participating in to: educ.consultation@falkirk.gov.uk Once this has been confirmed, a Microsoft teams invite and password will be issued. .

Proposal papers

The proposal document and notice of the consultation can be found below:

Consultation notice
DOCX file, 408.6 KB
Proposal document for the permanent closure of Blackness Primary School
DOCX file, 964.9 KB
Appendix 1 to Proposal document - Financial information
XLSX file, 19.2 KB