Scottish Catholic Observer

Campaigners fighting to save Milngavie’s only Catholic primary school are taking their campaign to the Scottish Labour Conference in Perth tomorrow.

Labour-led East Dunbartonshire Council is currently studying the results of its consultation on proposals to close St Joseph’s Primary School and bus the children to Bearsden at an annual cost to the taxpayer of £72,000. Parents, children and supporters from St Joseph’s have hired a bus to travel to the conference to lobby MPs, MSPs and councillors as they arrive at Perth Concert Hall from 10am.

More than 1500 people have signed a petition to save the school and it is believed that the overwhelming majority of responses to the consultation are opposed to closure.

Parents have urged the council to consider alternative options such as a shared campus with a non-denominational school in Milngavie or a community hub.

“We have decided to lobby the Labour Conference because we want our local councillors to stand up for our community and engage with us on our alternatives,” Paula Speirs, a St Joseph’s pupil’s parent, said. “St Joseph’s is the fastest growing school in the whole of East Dunbartonshire. It is unbelievable that we are being targeted for closure when our roll has increased by 26 per cent in the past three years. Our school is also well used by other community organisations, such as the Time Out after-school club, which provides wrap around care for children across Milngavie, and the non-denominational St Joseph’s nursery.

“If Labour close St Joseph’s, Milngavie will lose all these vital services and I can predict now that the party will fail to win back East Dunbartonshire at the next election.”

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