Scottish Catholic Observer

Parents from Milngavie continued their fight against the closure of their school at a meeting last night attended by more than 100 people.

The St Joseph campaigners where joined by the Scottish National Party’s 2015 election candidate for East Dunbartonshire and Scottish Catholic Observer columnist Kevin McKenna as they discussed ideas to save the only Catholic school in the town, including taking it into community control.

East Dunbartonshire Council have decided to close the school and merge it with St Andrew’s in Bearsden in a new-build on the St Andrew’s site. Last month, First Minster Nicola Sturgeon spoke about the school in parliament and said she would meet with parents.

Paula Speirs, whose son is a pupil at the school, said the response to the campaign had been fantastic.

“We have received messages of support from parent groups, community organisations and teachers across Scotland,” she said. “What we are asking is the right for parents and communities to take decisions about the future of schools, not councillors.”

Kevin McKenna, who chaired the meeting, said he couldn’t believe why any local authority would ‘cut the umbilical cord that has linked a very successful school to its community for almost 140 years without any good reason.’

“Not only the physical bond that links a Catholic primary school to its local church will be broken but also several other links which have benefited all parts of the local community too,” he said. “Certainly, there is an issue here about Catholic education because the question has posed about why it is now only pupils from St Joseph’s, the only Catholic school in Milngavie, who will have to be bussed out of their own neighbourhood to attend school.”

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