Council denies nursery closure list claims

Scottish Borders Council (SBC) has denied claims that it has a list of 12 school nurseries earmarked for closure this year.

A campaign has been launched by parents in Oxton to save the local Channelkirk Nursery.

It comes after they say they were told in a meeting that it was one of a number of sites that the council was considering making "inactive" - effectively a temporary closure - due to current rolls being below eight pupils.

Parent Paul Fulton said they had discovered "by accident" that a dozen nurseries were part of a council review. However, SBC said a review of school rolls was a standard annual procedure at this time of year and that there was no closure list.

Mr Fulton, who is also a member of the Oxton and Channelkirk Community Council, said: "We heard rumours in January time that there might be a potential review happening that we didn't know anything about.

"So we called a meeting on Zoom and it was attended by a council officer and our local councillors.

"They told us that as things stand with five enrolments that we were under review for closure, and that if we didn't increase the number to a minimum of eight then we would be closed.

"Thankfully, we've been able to get an extra two enrolled and a third potentially enrolled, but it's been a bit of a shock really."

He said they believed there were 12 nurseries under review across the Borders, and that the other 11 potentially knew nothing about it, which includes parents and teachers.

"Teachers at Channelkirk only found out through parents and that is our real concern in this - how transparent the council is being," he said.

"We're very upset that there has been no consultation whatsoever with anybody, and if we hadn't heard these whispers there would have been decisions taken behind closed doors and that would have been it."

He said the nursery was a "crucial part of the community and a feeder into the school" and a "fantastic small setting with brilliant teachers that is attractive for people who move here".

"The alternative would be for families to drive to Lauder, which is five miles each way, which might not sound a lot but many families don't have two cars, and most who live in Oxton commute the other way to work in Edinburgh," he added.

He said he feared it could also have an impact on the school which had "healthy numbers" at present of about 48 pupils.

SBC said that each year after enrolment its officers undertook an exercise to evaluate the numbers of children in its nurseries and schools and mapped it to overall provision and staffing.

"This results (for early learning and childcare provisions) in an assessment to establish whether a provision should be offered at the start of the next academic year which commences in August or be moved to 'inactive'," it said.

"Inactive is a temporary status, which is different from either mothballing or closure, for up to one year.

"It involves changing the registration of a setting with the Care Inspectorate but retains that provision as a registered setting meaning it can be reinstated easily when numbers increase to a viable level.

"There is currently no closure list, and the above exercise is an annual process that SBC officers undertake to determine provision for the following year."