August 30, 2007

Super schools upset parents

Edinburgh city councils plan to closed down up to 22 primary schools and to build instead super primary schools has come under attack from parents.

The plan would make sense, they have lots of small schools dotted around the city, and the council would then build larger schools or add to existing schools. But this would mean upheaval for the pupils and in some case extra time travelling.

The council say that the optimal size for a primary school is around 400, a lot of the schools in the city, only cater for around 200. However there is little or no evidence to support the council’s claims, in fact the only real reference is in an OFSTED report for England, where the claim is that the optimal size for a primary school would be between 50 and 100. It is this what has prompted the parents to object to the scheme.

In some cases larger schools have to be better because they would have more facilities, but the children would get less one to one attention. Education is always going to a hot subject.

Source [Scotsman]

Filed Under Education