Upcoming by-election

With the by-election looming a number of council and parliamentary candidates have come out in support of the Save Pitcorthie Primary Campaign. We very much appreciate all the help we have been given from all parties concerned and hope that help and support continues into the future. 

However, the Save Pitcorthie Primary Campaign committee will not come out in favour of any one party or candidate. In the interests of fairness and impartiality we are in the process of contacting all the candidates individually to arrange meetings, and to request a statement for our blog and Facebook page. The deadline for these statements is 10th October 2013 and they will be published shortly thereafter.

Please be sure to ask questions of any candidate who knocks on your door or stops you in the street for a chat. Read the papers, watch the news and make sure your voice is heard by voting for your preferred candidate on 24th October.

Protest on 24th October - Save our School!

The Save Pitcorthie Primary Campaign are holding a protest and petition signing on polling day, Thursday 24th October 2013, outside Pitcorthie Primary School.

Protest will be from 10:00am to 12:00pm and a presence at the petition signing will be maintained for most of the day. We hope to have the media present.

The school will be closed that day as it is used as a polling station. We hope to show what our school means not just to us but to the wider community so bring family, friends and above all the children for whom we are fighting. Get them involved in making SAVE OUR SCHOOL banners to wave.

Please come along on Thursday 24th October and join us in showing Fife Council how important Pitcorthie Primary is to our community.

STV News

STV News' political correspondent interviewed some of the Save Pitcorthie Primary Committee as part of their Dunfermline by-election coverage. You can see the clip here on their website.

Polling day is Thursday 24th October so let's all get along to our local polling station & make sure our voices are heard.

BBC news

A wee birdie has told us to watch the BBC news tonight. No other details (ie whether it's the national news at 6:00pm or Reporting Scotland at 6:30pm) so we'll be tuning in at 6:00 & keeping our eyes peeled.

Campaign update 18th Sep 2013

Lynburn Primary parent partnership visit

We were invited to attend a Parent Partnership meeting at Lynburn Primary School on 17th September. Two representatives of the Save Pitcorthie Primary Campaign attended and we spoke at length with the Chairperson of the Parent Partnership about the possible effects of the proposals on Lynburn school and its pupils. We also shared information obtained and encouraged Lynburn parents to take part in the upcoming consultation process.

Meeting with Thomas Docherty MP

Today (18th September) we had a long meeting with Thomas Docherty MP regarding the proposals for Pitcorthie Primary and the proposed receiving schools, which lasted the best part of the morning. Four representatives of the Save Pitcorthie Primary Campaign attended, information was exchanged and Mr Docherty will be sending a list of questions to Fife Council on our behalf. The questions and responses will be made available to the public as soon as we are able to do so.

Parents' Evening

Members of the Save Pitcorthie Primary Campaign committee will be present in the foyer at tonight's parents' evening to share information gathered this far. If you have any questions or comments please don't hesitate to speak to us. 

Fife Council's proposal document

Finding the proposal documents for the schools that are under threat of closure is no easy feat. We are therefore providing a link so that the community can access the document in full. Copies of the full proposal for Pitcorthie Primary should be provided by Fife Council to every parent before consultation starts on 28th October.

Proposal document for Pitcorthie Primary School (pdf).

Proposal documents for all seven schools.

This is the document that the Education, Social & Communities Scrutiny Committee of 3rd September voted to pass to consultation despite contention from councillors that there were errors in the documents. 

Most of the people who will decide our school's fate have never entered this building and everything they know about Pitcorthie Primary will come from the proposal document and feedback that parents and pupils give during the consultation process. For this reason it is vitally important that we all take part in the consultation process.

How to contact us

Have a question, suggestion or comment for the Save Pitcorthie Primary Committee? Contact us at;

savepitcorthieprimary@hotmail.co.uk

Site rules

The Save Pitcorthie Primary Committee have set up this blog to help keep parents and the wider community up to date on developments before, during and after the statutory consultation period. 

Visitors to this blog are welcome to leave comments but it should be noted that:

• Views expressed by visitors to this blog are not necessarily shared by the Save Pitcorthie Primary Committee.
• Comments left must not defame or otherwise insult any individual or group of individuals.
• Blog admin reserves the right to delete any comments that are deemed offensive, abusive or potentially libelous.

We thank you in advance for abiding by these rules to keep this blog a positive, welcoming part of cyberspace.

What the press have to say

Dunfermline Press

Three West Fife schools set to close.

Labour and SNP clash over school closures.

Furious parents only found out about school closure in Press.

One Dunfermline school's closure to trigger £3.9million bill.

School closure plan set to dominate Dunfermline by-election.

Dunfermline South by-election date set for October.

SNP slams 'misleading and inaccurate' reports over threatened schools.

The Courier

Fife Council confirms schools facing closure or merger.

Councillors seek Fife school closures plan rethink.

Opposition fail in bid to halt Fife school closures consultation.

Councillor says Fife schools report is riddled with 'gobbledegook and doublespeak'.

Claim teachers will lose jobs if Fife schools are closed.

Union says Fife teacher job losses is 'very unlikely'.

Fife school review process 'has been robust'.

Fears over Pitcorthie Primary closure.

Fife schools in line for £6m upgrade as closures likely.

Urgent talks plea to help avoid 'prejudice' over school behaviour support units.

Council ignoring responsibility to residents? (reader's letters)

Fife council poised to hold school closure meetings.

Fife Council accused of political motivation in school closures.

Fife councillor says a 'shameful new low' reached during school closure debate.

Fife school cuts reports are 'misleading'.

Claim parents have lost trust in Fife Council over school closures.

STV News 

Parents and pupils protest against closure of Fife primary school.

Dunfermline candidates seizing on local issues ahead of by-election.

Scotland Tonight: Dunfermline by-election candidates quizzed.

The story so far . . .

In late 2012, Fife Council undertook a review of its schools estate. In April 2013, the Executive Committee passed proposals to look at closing seven Fife schools, three of which are in West Fife. One of these schools is Pitcorthie Primary School in Dunfermline.

Pitcorthie Primary is a bustling, thriving school and is at the heart of our community. School roll is at an all-time high with over 300 children currently in attendance. It consistently receives outstanding HMIE reports, has gained 'Health Promoting School' status and a 'Green Flag' ECO award, and has also just received its level 1 Rights Respecting Schools award.

Unfortunately for Pitcorthie's pupils, it is surrounded by three schools whose occupancy levels fall below Fife Council's desired levels. Further, part of the building has some structural problems inherent in its design. These structural problems have been apparent to Fife Council and have been under monitor for a number of years, and do not pose an immediate danger to pupils or staff, but they will need to be addressed in the next 2-5 years and will of course cost money. Despite this, Fife Council concedes in its own proposal documents that the school does not actually meet its own guidelines for closure.

Since the decision was announced in April, Pitcorthie parents have been making our voices heard. We have set up a Save Pitcorthie Primary Facebook page, attended council meetings, organised a banner, demonstrated with our placards outside both Fife House and Dunfermline City Chambers, and handed over a petition to Councillor Alex Rowley that contained over 900 signatures. We have had letters published in Dunfermline Press, and pictures and interviews in both the Press and the Courier. We have even been interviewed by Kingdom FM and on STV news.

Yesterday evening (Thursday 5th September) the Save Pitcorthie Primary Committee held a public meeting for all parents to let everyone know how they can help with our campaign. The meeting was very well attended and we were grateful to all the parents, pupils, community members and elected councillors who came along. We detailed plans for the next steps in our campaign, answered as many questions as we could (and took note of a few more that we will get answers for) and took contact details so we can better keep people up to date. This blog is just one of the ways that we intend to keep the wider community appraised of our plans and progress in the fight to save our school.