Consultation on proposals to discontinue education provision at St Margaret's RC Primary School

Current education provision at St Margaret's

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St Margaret’s RC Primary School is a denominational school situated in Loanhead. It welcomes Roman Catholic pupils as well as pupils of other or no faith. To secure Best Value and to better meet the needs of learners the school is currently hosting the Treehouses Additional Support Needs provision whilst new bespoke Additional Support Needs provision is being planned within new schools. It is one of the compliment of seven denominational primary schools in Midlothian. The school serves the areas of Loanhead, Bilston and Roslin.  A map of the catchment area is provided.

The school roll has declined in recent years from a high of 63 pupils in 2016 to 18 pupils by the time of the 2020 pupil census.  At the start of the 2021/22 school year there were 2 pupils attending St Margaret’s. Subsequently these pupils have moved to another school leaving 0 pupils on the school roll.

The 18 pupils that were enrolled at the time of the 2020 pupil census have as at 14 September enrolled in the following schools:

• Loanhead PS -  8 pupils
• Paradykes PS -  2 pupils
• Sacred Heart RC PS - 2 pupils
• Stobhill PS -  2 pupils
• Outwith Midlothian - 4 pupils

In 2019 the Education Service initiated a review of Midlothian’s denominational school provision, in the context of a national shortfall in availability of teachers with approval necessary to teach in Roman Catholic (RC) schools, which will have had an impact on the St Margaret’s RC Primary school roll. However, this impact was not reflected across all other denominational schools also affected by the review.

The review concluded and was reported to Council in June 2021 with the following recommendations:

•  the council retains six denominational primary schools and one denominational secondary school as part of the learning estate; and
•  authorises the Executive Director Children, Young People & Partnerships to undertake statutory consultation on the proposal to permanently discontinue primary education at St Margaret’s RC Primary School and to extend the catchment areas of the neighbouring RC primary schools to include the St Margaret’s catchment area

Read the review

The St Margaret’s RC Primary School building, which has capacity for 100 primary pupils, is part of the Ramsay Campus which was built in 2007 and is shared with Loanhead Primary School. The shared facilities include two P.E. halls, an expressive arts hall, dining facilities and a well-equipped playground. The campus is a PPP facility with a life cycle maintenance programme which maintains the building to a high standard.  Both Loanhead PS and St Margaret’s RC PS are rated Good (A) for condition and Good (A) for suitability.

If this proposal is passed, the future use of the building would require to be assessed. A few potential options may be that it is required to satisfy the demand for Additional Support Needs pupils or retained to meet capacity pressures due to the region’s growth. These and any other potential options will have to be considered.

The school does not have a separate nursery.  Pupils who go on to attend St Margaret’s RC Primary School have often attended the Loanhead Nursery which is co-located on the Ramsay Campus.

There are approximately 4,970 dwellings in the catchment of St Margaret’s RC Primary School.  In August 2020 there were 735 primary-aged children residing in the area and attending a Midlothian primary school.  Of these only 11 pupils attended St Margaret’s with another 7 pupils attending as a result of parental choice.

Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) sits at the heart of what Midlothian Council is committed to achieving in terms of raising attainment and achievement, and improving educational outcomes for all children. CfE is intended to nurture successful, effective, confident and responsible children, able to learn and utilise learning in a way that helps them reach their full potential and to respond to the increased variety and pace of change in today’s and tomorrow’s world. 

Most of the families who have moved recently from St Margaret’s RC Primary School have chosen Loanhead Primary School for their children’s primary school, which has a roll of 189 pupils.  At the time of the 2020 pupil census of the 735 children residing in the St Margaret’s catchment 720 were attending a non-denominational primary school, with 15 attending an RC primary school.

The history of the pupil roll

The history of the pupil roll of St Margaret’s RC Primary School since 1996 is shown on a separate page. The highest roll recorded over these years was in 2003 when there were 88 pupils on the roll.  The school roll has fallen over recent years from 63 pupils in 2016 to today’s pupil roll of 0 pupils. 

• Read more about the history of the pupil roll

The council’s Learning Estate Strategy 2017 – 2047 cautions against the building of smaller primary schools, with capacity for up to 210 pupils, and prefers a model with larger primary schools which are more sustainable, particularly in non-rural areas. The strategy recognises that approximately 12% of pupils attending Midlothian primary schools choose to attend a denominational school and notes that a larger catchment area with approximately 9,000 homes is required to sustain a single stream denominational school.

Informal consultation meetings were held with staff and parents over 2019 and 2020 as part of the denominational review. Parental support for the RC schools in Midlothian in terms of choice of school remained strong throughout this period with the exception of St Margaret’s RC PS. The school roll at St Margaret’s RC PS fell from 40 to 18 pupils and there were indications that a number of these children would move to other schools in the near future.    

In June 2021 officers of the council held virtual meetings with St Margaret’s RC PS parents and representatives of the Catholic Church informing them of the intention to propose to proceed without delay to statutory consultation on the proposal to close St Margaret’s.

Consequently on 29 June 2021 at the full Council meeting, the Executive Director Children, Young People & Partnerships was authorised to undertake statutory consultation on the proposal to permanently discontinue primary education at St Margaret’s RC Primary School and to extend the catchment areas of the neighbouring primary schools to include the St Margaret’s RC PS catchment area.