Midlothian Council will launch a new public consultation tomorrow, aimed at changing the catchment areas for Penicuik’s primary schools and secondary schools.
It has been two years now since Midlothian Council consulted on a planned merger of the town’s two high schools, which was refused to profusely by the public, and now they have a plan to shake up the catchment zones to hopefully fix the problems of either oversubscribed schools or, in the case of Glencorse PS and Penicuik HS, undersubscribed schools.
Major changes include:
- Pupils from Deanburn would attend Cuiken PS and not Mauricewood
- Valleyfield and Broomhill would attend Cornbank and not Strathesk
- Pupils from Strathesk primary would no longer attend BCHS but Penicuik HS instead
The local authority will launch a consultation tomorrow, Friday 21 February, which will run until Friday 4 April, to gauge your views on their plans, as described below:
Midlothian Council have devised five proposals which they hope to implement by August 2015. They understand that you may not be concerned with all of them, however they still welcome your response for those which do apply. Even if proposals are taken forward, you will still be able to apply to send your child to a out of catchment school.
Proposal One
Proposal one is to extend the catchment boundary of Cornbank St.James Primary School. They will do this by moving pupils who live in Broomhill, North West Cuiken or Valleyfield to the school. The following streets would be under the catchment zone for Cornbank:
Broomhill
Alderbank, Baldwin Court, Bank Street, Bog Road, Bridge Street, Broomhill Avenue, Broomhill Road, Cairnbank Gardens, Cairnbank Road, Carigiebield Crescent, Cranston Street, Croft Street, Fetteresk Cottages, Heinsberg House, High Street, Jackson Street, John Street, John Street Lane, Kirk View, Lamb’s Pend, Peebles Road, St James’s Gardens, St James’s View, The Square, Thorburn Terrace, Vaucuse Place, West Street & Wilson Street
North West Cuiken
Laverock Drive, Linty Lane, Merlyon Way, Rullion Road & Terregles
Valleyfield
Bankmill View, Beech Place, Bellerophon Drive, Bridge Street, High Street, Lower Valleyfield View, Millade Cottage, Parkend, Peebles Road, Pomathorn Bank, Pomathorn Road, Telford Cottages, The Square, Uttershill House, Uttershill Stables, Valleyfield Road, Valleyfield View, Woodslea Cottage & Waterloo Bank
Future Affordable Houses in development site H16, see map, will attend Cornbank also.
Proposal Two
Proposal Two would see the catchment area of Cuiken Primary School change to include pupils who live in Upper Cuikenburn, Lower Cuikenburn and Upper Deanburn. The following streets would be in the catchment zone for Cuiken Primary:
Upper Cuikenburn
Cuikenburn, Royal Court, Rullion Green Avenue, Rullion Green Crescent & Rullion Green Grove.
Lower Cuikenburn
Dykes Road, East Queensway & Queensway.
Upper Deanburn
Andrew Court, Anne Court, Deanburn, Charles Street, Philip Place & Scott Road.
128 Units from the H16 development site would attend Cuiken Primary instead of Mauricewood or Glencorse.
Proposal Three
Proposal Three does not impact many pupils, in fact at the moment, it impacts no pupils. However it would transfer any pupils to the south-west of Mauricewood Road and the south-east of Peebles Road to Cuiken Primary School. Anyone living within the grounds of Beeslack CHS would have to go to Glencorse PS. Those living on land between Maurcewood Road and Belwood Road will go to Mauricewood (site H25 & part of H16).
Proposal Four
Proposal Four effects the H16 development again and would see children from 163 of the proposed units attend Mauricewood Primary School.
Proposal Five
This proposal is the only one to effect the High Schools. Under proposals ALL Strathesk pupils would go to Penicuik High and not Beeslack.
You have the opportunity to share your views about the catchment review at two public meetings:
- Cuiken Primary School on Tuesday 11 March from 19:00 to 20:30
- Beeslack Community High School on Thursday 20 March from 19:00 to 20:30
Additionally you can fill out the council’s online survey, which can be viewed here. Paper copies of the questionnaire are available at all local high schools and primary schools. These can be returned to the library or can be posted to Sandra Banks, Midlothian Council, Education Division, Freepost SCO 622, Dalkeith EH22 0BR.
Once the consultation closes, the council will send Education Scotland a proposal which includes any representations made. Education Scotland will then provide a recommendation in a report. The report will be presented to the full council on 24 June 2014 nd a decision can be expected three weeks after this.
What is clear from above is that this review could shakeup Penicuik’s schooling network radically, with the H16 housing development undergoing a three-way split. Regardless of the results, Midlothian Council will have to extend three primary schools to accommodate new pupils, with the income coming from housing developers. Beeslack High may also have to undergo works to accommodate additional pupils. You can view the whole proposal on MC’s website by clicking here.