St Ninian’s closure set to be agreed

FORMAL closure of St Ninian’s RC Primary in Newton Stewart looks set to be agreed next week.

Members of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s education committee will be asked to agree to ‘discontinue education provision’ there and realign the catchment area to St Joseph’s RC Primary in Stranraer.

St Ninian’s was mothballed in August 2023 with falling pupil numbers and difficulties in recruiting a headteacher cited as the main reasons, along with a fall in the number of children identifying as Roman Catholic in the region.

Earlier this year an official consultation was carried out on closing it for good, but it elicited a low response from families and the community.

However, Education Scotland are backing the move and their inspectors agree that there are ‘educational benefits to permanently close St Ninian’s RC Primary School and re-align the catchment to St Joseph’s RC Primary School.”

Their consultation response noted: “Almost all stakeholders agree with the proposal and children are settled at their current schools. It is unlikely that the numbers of school age children that would be in the St Ninian’s RC Primary School catchment will increase in the coming years. Falling school rolls mean that this change is largely accepted by stakeholders as a way to continue to provide an option for Catholic education in the area.”

Council officials have also concluded: “The proposal offers significant educational benefits and officers are still of the view that on balance the evidence supports the closure.”

As such, they will ask councillors to agree to it taking effect from December 1.