Scottish Catholic Observer

A ‘hammer blow,’ that is what Glasgow Archdiocese has called the Scottish Government’s decision to back council plans to close the only Catholic school in Milngavie.

East Dunbartonshire Council decided earlier this year to go ahead with plans to merge St Joseph’s Primary with St Andrew’s Primary, Bearsden, and build a new school on the current St Andrew’s site. This was in spite of opposition from parents and the Church. In May, a formal consultation into the merger showed widespread opposition to the plan as well as highlighting the potential for ‘indirect discrimination’ against Catholic families in Milngavie.

Hope grew when the Scottish Government ‘called-in’ the proposal, examining the process the council used. A government statement released last Friday, however, said: “Following further investigation, and having looked at the totality of what has been considered by East Dunbartonshire Council in coming to its decision to close the schools, the Scottish Ministers are satisfied that East Dunbartonshire Council has fulfilled its obligations under the 2010 Act and that the closure proposal is a reasonable one which the council is entitled to make.

“Accordingly, the Scottish Ministers grant unconditional consent to the proposal.”

A spokesperson for Glasgow Archdiocese said: “The archdiocese strongly opposed the closure of St Joseph’s Primary School and the ending of Catholic education in Milngavie. We share the dismay of parents, staff and pupils at this decision which will be a hammer blow for many in the affected community.”

Michael McGrath, director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service, said: “I know the deep disappointment being experienced by the community of St Joseph’s at the actions of East Dunbartonshire Council in removing Catholic education from the town of Milngavie. The Church has made every effort to oppose this decision which has now been accepted by the Scottish

Government as having complied with the legal process.”

Parents who campaigned against the decision have vowed to fight on. Laureen McIntyre, chairwoman of St Joseph’s Parent Council, said that some parents were in tears at the school’s Christmas Nativity play upon hearing the news.

A council Equality Impact Assessment found that the merger proposals had the potential to indirectly discriminate against Catholics.

Education Scotland’s report on the proposals found that parents from St Joseph’s who met with inspectors were ‘unanimously opposed to the proposal.

Staff members were not supportive of the proposals at either school.

Plans for the new £9 million school in Bearsden are now set to go ahead, with a proposed opening date of the 2016/2017 term.

The SCO selected plans to close St Joseph’s as a test case of the challenges, economic and otherwise, to the provision of Catholic education to Scottish town and villages.

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—Pic: Paul McSherry

—Read the full version of this story in Dec 19 edition of the SCO in parishes from Friday.