Consultation Response Update

I'm deeply disappointed that the establishments in my ward, St James' Primary, Queen Mary Street Nursery and Mile End Nursery have all been recommended for closure.

The consultation responses and their appendices (where the interesting stuff is buried) have now made it on to the Glasgow City Council website. I have heard that the Lib Dems got a rougher deal than the SNP Group, not having received the information on the responses before lunchtime. The Greens may have had them by mid-morning. Nice that we're all treated consistently...

The Evening Times reports that;

Despite 96% of those who responded being against the proposals, the ruling
Labour group on the city council voted 31-6 to press ahead with the proposals.

All parents in the City should make a point of speaking to their Labour Councillors, and demanding to know how they voted, and why they failed to persuade their colleagues. They should also double check the lists of respondents in the appendices to see whether their Councillors put in an objection to these closure plans.

450 responses were received by the Council for St James' Primary, 251 for, 188 against and 11 unclear. It's deeply interesting that the receiving school, Alexandra Parade Primary, had 280 responses filled in by pupils. They will receive £75,000 towards improvements to accommodate the pupils from St James'. I'm going over to Education shortly to see the responses for myself, and am sure they will make interesting reading.

145 responses were received by the Council for Queen Mary Street Nursery, but parents have told me that a 20 page petition was also submitted. This isn't mentioned anywhere, and I'm very concerned at the thought that this could go missing.

I'll post another update later, once I've seen the responses in the flesh.

Education Consultation Responses to be Released

Big day today in Glasgow City Council; the responses to the schools closures consultation will be released on the web at 9am. This will give some kind of indication of those still on the closure list, and if any will be saved. I hope to give an update during the day.

Public consultation

The consultation meeting at St James' tonight was ace. The place was packed - at least eighty people turned out to make their voice heard. Excellent questions were put, some of which couldn't be answered.

One which really had parents concerned was bus provision. There's no direct bus from the Calton to Alexandra Parade, so it had been suggested that buses might be provided to take pupils the 1.3 miles between the schools. Fine and dandy, you might think, until it was revealed that there would be no supervision of pupils on the bus (other than from the bus driver, who ought to have his eyes elsewhere!). Parents were understandably worried about their children - some as young as four - being left to their own devices for the trip, and made it quite clear that they felt that was unacceptable.

I was very pleased at the quality of the questioning; officials were left in no doubt why the community opposes this proposal.

Marching in the East

I'm going back... way back. I've decided to date this post from when I meant to blog it, which was last Saturday. Otherwise, the following posts won't make sense!


On the 14th, schools supporters from across Glasgow came together to show their opposition to the schools closures proposed by the Labour administration of Glasgow City Council.

On the 21st, supporters of St James Primary School and Queen Mary Street Nursery came together to march from Queen Mary Street to St James' to demonstrate their willingness to save their schools. Parents proposed to move the nursery to the primary to save what they have.

I only got a few pictures of the demo and march, but it was a great turn out, and massive credit has to go to the parents, especially Kelly and Angela, for their work to pull the march off. It was a great show of strength, and made the wider community (including the smokers standing outside every pub at Bridgeton Cross) aware of how important this campaign is.

More excellent photos are available here, taken by the SSP's Rikki Reid.

Meetings and events

Today's going to be hectic - and very conversation-heavy. It sounds odd to my other half, who speaks mostly to computers, but a significant part of my job is listening to people. Speaking too obviously, but the listening's the really important part. Remembering what was said by whom and when, and what action I've to take when I get back to the office is a bit more challenging, especially when all the meetings are back to back.

This morning, I've got a meeting with parents from St James' and Queen Mary Street at 9.15, and a Royal visit to the opening of the Community Fire House at Calton Fire Station at 10.15. This afternoon, I've got the pantomime of Full Council at 1.30 and then casework to catch up on with several constituents to call back. I'm also still trying to get hold of some facts'n'figures for the school closure meetings next week.

If I get all my work done, I hope to go and see Motherwell play St Mirren tonight in the cup. Events have kept me away from the football for weeks, so it'd be great to make it along. It has the advantage of being able to switch the conversational part of my brain off for a wee while!

Schools on the march

Today saw hundreds of parents and children descend on to George Square for a city-wide demo against the Labour administration of Glasgow City Council's school closure proposals (or "modernisation strategy" as they prefer to call it).

For the parents from St James' Primary and Queen Mary Street Nursery in my ward, this is a bigger fight than keeping schools open - it's about protecting the community as a whole. Their 2 become 1 campaign aims to move Queen Mary Street Nursery into St James' Primary, which keeps the children in the community and safeguards the future of the school. The parents really did themselves proud today - I'm fairly chuffed too that the BBC have chosen to illustrate their closure coverage with a child holding a banner in support of this particular campaign!

There was a great turnout from the schools and nurseries in the city, despite the grim and overcast weather, and the march went well. I was left with the impression that people who came along were bolstered and strengthened for the fight ahead.

School closure update

Since I last wrote, things have moved on in the school closure campaign. I've met several more times with parents from St James Primary and Queen Mary Street Nursery, along with local ministers. The group has agreed a date for placard making - this Wednesday at 6.30 in Bridgeton Community Learning Centre - and arranged for two public demonstrations on the 14th and the 21st. The parents have set up a bebo site too, where local people are pledging support.

The parents have suggested moving Queen Mary Street into St James, which would keep both and save a little on the running costs of Queen Mary Street. I've been meeting also with my Labour ward colleagues, and we're starting to put together a business case. There are significant social and educational reasons for keeping the schools, particularly with the backdrop of health stats in the East End.

The details of the affected schools are on the Council website - if you have a view, please please make your voice heard.